Song of the Setting Sun
by Crazyeight
Summary: Following the voice of a song, Takato finds its source, only to be surprised by what he finds. And it's owner may not be at all happy about the intrusion... Jurato, Rukato fic.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Song of the Setting Sun

A Digimon Tamers Fic by Crazyeight

The golden shine of the setting sun illuminated the city of Shinjuku, giving the buildings a soft glow as the day wore down, signifying to all that the end of the day had arrived and that the time to go home has come. For the majority of the adult population, this prospect was met with a sigh of relief as they left work to return to the warmth of their homes and relax. For the majority of the child population however, they held the opposite conviction with a fierce stubbornness that bordered on fanaticism, and as such they would stay out as long as they were capable which, sadly, wasn't as long as they had hoped. Soon enough, good-byes were made and paths parted as longtime friends made their way to their respective dwellings where dinner was no doubt waiting for them at the kitchen table. Some would take their time getting home though, as was the case with one red haired girl as she strode through the park that, for nearly a year, had been her regular haunt, as a place where she could go to relax and escape from the pressures of daily life.

To think that this girl shouldn't have any worries at a time like this would be the understatement of the year. True, she lived in a home that belonged to a renowned model (who was known as _Makino_ in her public life, Rumiko Nonaka in her private), and she attended one of the finest schools in the city. Complaints of the choice of school uniform aside, this girl had advantages that most kids her age didn't have, and yet she walked through the world with an expression that could be described as either cold or indifferent, and sometimes even anger. She had been closed off to the world at one point, but recent experiences had forced her to wake up to the world that surrounded her, to open up to it. Though it did make her happier, a fact that can be attested by those who know her best, she was not without her own worries and issues. Some of which transcended beyond just the normal worries of a young, teenage girl.

To the untutored eye, this girl, who wore a blue-sleeved t-shirt with a purple heart on its chest, a pair of jeans with a belt wrapped around one leg, and another around her waist with a card box and a strange, arc-shaped device with blue trim, attached to it. She also had red hair tied back into a ponytail, and violet eyes that looked out over the playground that she stood across from with a detached, but almost curious look held within their depths. From the way that she dressed, most people would assume that she was a tomboy, and they would be correct in that assumption, but she was much more then that. If the device that was hooked to her waist belt was any indication, she was what people referred to as a Digimon Tamer, and she was part of a group of such Tamers; children called on by means of destiny and desire to serve as the link and defense between the world of humans, and that strange other world known only as the digital world. A responsibility that even adults didn't have to contend with, and she was just a child. Or was she? In so many ways she was more than just a child, and at the same time still one. Older than some adults, yet younger.

She was Rika Nonaka, daughter of the famous Rumiko Nonaka, Digimon Tamer, Digimon Queen (as she had been called after winning a card tournament of a game with the same name as the creatures that she battled and fought alongside by), and partner to the kitsune digimon known only as Renamon. At least when in her rookie form, but that's a whole different story.

No sound was made by the elegant fox named Renamon, but Rika could tell that she was curious as to why they had stopped here of all places when they should be heading home. She knew this through the link that they shared; the link that had been formed the day that they had become partners. This link had many advantages, particularly where it allowed them to communicate without the use of words, and because of this, Renamon didn't feel the need to ask her partner and friend what was going through her mind. The emotions that flowed through their connection was answer enough.

Rika looked around the playground, as though checking the area for any hostiles before stepping into it, a soft smile illuminating her face. The children that had inhabited the playground were long gone, so Rika didn't have to worry about any prying eyes. Walking over to the swing sets, Rika stood in front of them for a moment, looking at them with a small frown on her face, as though she were contemplating something. Finally, with one last look around, Rika turned around and sat down on the swing. It was a little small, as it had been designed for a child much younger, and smaller, than she was, but at the moment she didn't care. An unconscious memory came to her as she looked out at the setting sun, and she nudged the swing into motion with her feet, not enough to gain any serious movement, but it was enough to grant a squeak from the chains that held the swing. Rika smiled at the sound, and with it came the memory of a more innocent time, and she could almost imagine an older man standing next to her, with a soft smile on his face. Then the girl's face became slightly downcast, as she remembered that those times were long gone now.

_Like it matters,_ Rika thought. _My parents made their choice. And besides, it's not like I haven't been down this road before, thinking about what could have been. I've already accepted what had happened…_

All true. Rika had accepted what had happened. That her parents had a divorce, and that she hadn't seen or spoken to her father since he had left her life. In some ways it had made her a much stronger person. Maybe it didn't change her for the better, but she was stronger and she wouldn't change how she had turned out for anything, not after everything that she had been through; all the things that she had experienced because of how she was. But ever since that battle with the Parasimon army about a month ago, she had recently come to think more on the past. The reasons for this was because during the fight, she had been possessed by one such creature, and it had manipulated her by using memories of her father, leading her along with false promises and because of it she had nearly killed a close friend of hers.

She used to think that she was over her parents divorce. Accepted yes, but over?

The question certainly begged, didn't it?

As the swing rocked back and forth to the gentle pressure of Rika's feet, a soft hum could be heard emanating from the girl, a tune from her childhood and soon enough the words came forth in a soft whisper, rising slightly after a few seconds, and growing louder with each breath of confidence, but not quite reaching the pitch of an orchestra. Both words and tune suiting the scene of the sunset perfectly as the girl's voice played along the air.

_"You promised the sunset we'd always, always be together I want to see you now, so please tell me how you feel"_

Rika's voice sung upon the wind as a light breeze carried them through the park like a gentle whisper, as soft as the glow of the suns last rays.

_"You came into my lonely heart so suddenly_

_You gently wrapped up the place that hurt_

_I've never felt this relaxed_

_I want to put that warmth in my pocket so I can walk around with it…"_

Somewhere nearby, a bird chirped, adding its music to that of the young girl's.

Rika let it.

* * *

Takato Matsuki had been packing up his cards after he had bid his friends Kenta and Kazu good-bye. Next to him, Guilmon, his partner digimon and best friend, laughed childishly and nuzzled him, causing the boy to drop some of his cards and chuckle a bit as he pushed the crimson dino back. 

"Guilmon…" the boy said with a false sound of irritation in his voice. Guilmon laughed again and looked at the brown haired boy who was his Tamer. He wore a blue hoody and tan pants, and on his forehead sat a yellow-rimmed object that had earned him the nickname from one of his fellow Tamers that had made him famous. _Gogglehead._

"Do you have to go?" Asked Guilmon with a disappointed sound in his voice.

"You know that I have to Guilmon," said Takato as he dumped some more cards in his card box and stood up, a small smile on his face. "Mom will kill me if I show up late again. She might call the army and mount a search and rescue mission for me if I don't show up in time for dinner."

Guilmon's ears drooped.

"Why do you always make your mom sound scarier than D-Reaper Takato? Last I checked she wasn't made out of any red globs."

"Mothers are different," said Takato. "It's kind of hard to explain, but it's a lot like the relationship you and I have. You know, where we're friends and we don't want to do anything that would hurt each other, right?"

"Hmmmnn… I guess… but that doesn't explain why you make your mom so scary sounding. She's not any worse than anything that we've faced in the digital world."

"Well, that's debatable," said Takato with a laugh. "Trust me on this, Guilmon. There are few things in this world that you want angry at you than your mother."

"But I thought that I didn't have a mommy, Takato," said Guilmon as he cocked his head to one side in confusion. After a second he looked up at the ceiling of his dwelling and tapped his chin with his claw. "But then, you drew me so… doesn't that make you my mommy?"

Takato sweatdropped as he remembered the last time that they had a conversation like that, only Renamon had been there saying that he would have made a better mother than a Tamer with the way that he treated Guilmon. As he recalled, after Guilmon had made his _Takato's my mommy_ comment, his exact response was '_Aw geez, Guilmon… don't call me that.'_

Or something along the lines of that.

"Um… I don't think that it quite works that way…"

Guilmon just stared at Takato for a moment and then laughed once more, rubbing his head up against Takato's leg.

"You'd better hurry and get home, Takatomon," said Guilmon. Rubbing his friend's head, Takato bid Guilmon good-bye and closed the gate behind him as he left. As he descended the stairs that led up to Guilmon's stone hut, Takato rubbed the back of his head in confusion, wondering if Henry's partner, Terriermon, was filling Guilmon's head up with strange ideas again. Either that or it was Impmon, but the goggle-wearing Tamer highly doubted that Impmon would ever bring up a subject such as motherhood. Not even in jest. Shrugging the situation off, Takato picked up his pace and broke into a jog as he headed through the park, determined to cut some distance between Guilmon's home and his own, to at least make a show of an effort that he didn't try to get home late or anything. Chances were his mother was going to have a few choice words with him anyway. She didn't like it when he stayed out until the sun started setting. It seemed no matter how many times he saved the world or fought a wild digimon and won out she would always regard him as her baby. It did sort of get on his nerves, but it was something that he wouldn't trade for the world. After all, it was just her way of showing that she cared. Everyone had their own way of showing that they cared for someone. Even Rika…

Takato suddenly stopped as he heard a strange sound. Listening carefully he realized that it was… _singing_?

Takato almost shrugged it off. It's not like he hadn't heard anyone walking through the park singing before. Granted, it was a little strange, but then he was a kid with a digital dinosaur for a partner so who was he to argue? But there was something about this particular tune that caught his attention. It had a rather lovely melody to it that was both sad and happy at the same time, but there was something more. It sounded… familiar.

Curiosity leading him towards the source of the voice, like a moth to the flame, the words began to become more distinguishable as he drew nearer.

_"You promised the sunset we'd always, always be together_

_Though I feel like giving up, I embrace the beautiful orange glow…"_

Takato frowned. Yes, he knew that song, but for the life of him he couldn't remember where he had heard it. And the voice… the voice was familiar too. And… beautiful. It had a lovely sound to it that made him feel as though it were in harmony with the world, as well as striving against it. It enlivened his spirit and made him want to cry all at once. Maybe if he found out who the voice belonged to he could… he didn't know what he'd do really. Listen maybe. Offer applause? Probably not. After all, the person probably wanted a moment alone. Best to take a quick look and be on his merry way. After all, if he didn't get a move on soon he'd end up being late getting home, and then he'd _really_ hear it from his mom. And that was the last thing that he wanted today…

Takato approached the playground and halted, taking a look around him. It sounded like this was where the song was coming from, but the question was where exactly…?

Takato's eyes came to rest on a lone figure sitting on a swing set, and after a quick scrutiny his eyes widened in surprise. Now he knew why the song sounded so familiar. After all, he had heard part of it from the person who was sitting on that very swing, her back turned to him.

_Rika…_

He realized that he probably shouldn't be there. This was something that he rarely saw, and if she saw him she'd… well, the mind shudders. Of course, Rika wouldn't really hurt him (unless he did something especially irritating and/or rage worthy, and he had yet to pull that feat off), but he was in a way intruding on her private moment. He wanted to move, but his feet were stuck to the ground. So enwrapped in the song that the fiery haired Tamer was singing that he had forgotten just what motor functions it took to get his legs moving. So he just stood there, listening while Rika sung her song.

Briefly, he wondered where Renamon was.

_"The sunset taught me that it would surely, surely be all right_

_If I just believe, my feelings will get through._

"_You promised the sunset we'd always, always be together_

_Though far away, we feel the same orange glow_

_It will surely, surely be all right, and because the sunset connects us_

_Don't cry, our love lights up our hearts_

_Our love lights up our hearts…"_

As Rika's song tapered off, Takato found himself wondering about the song that she had sung. The last time he had heard it was on Locomon during that whole Parasimon business a month ago. He hadn't really thought much about it at the time, aside from the fact that it was strange that, while the Parasimon had possessed her, she had maintained a desire to sing, and attacked everything around her as though it were a threat to her singing. He hadn't asked her about it, though he had occasionally wondered about it. Past experience had shown that whatever it was, it wasn't something that she would readily talk about when asked. She was too prideful for that. When she wanted to talk about it, she would. Nothing to it, though with Rika, _nothing to it_, tended to be anything but.

Realizing that now was perhaps the best time for him to slip away, Takato took one last look at Rika's back and prepared to walk off.

And then, like one of those last-minute rescues that the Legendary Tamer, Ryo Akiyama, had made famous, a voice broke the silence of the dusk, sending a bird into flight and causing Takato to freeze in his spot as, on the swings, Rika's face swiveled around to see the cause of the commotion. Like she needed a visual confirmation to go with the clue that was now being offered like a prophecy of doom.

"TAAAAH-KA-TOOOOE! WAIT UP!" Called out a voice that could only belong to one Guilmon. Turning his head quickly he saw the red dinosaur running towards him with something held carefully between his claws. They looked like digimon cards. He must've left some behind before he left. Just his luck…

_Heh. Heh. Heh. I am so dead…_ Takato thought, immediately resigning himself to his fate. He could already feel Rika's eyes on him, threatening to bore a hole in his head. Blushing lightly from embarrassment, Takato turned towards Guilmon as the red dino approached him.

"You forgot these, Takato," said Guilmon as he handed the boy the cards that he had accidentally left behind. Sweatdropping, Takato accepted the cards carefully, feeling his heart speed up nervously as he heard the swings chains rattle as Rika got up from it. The sound of her shoes hitting the ground as she approached him sounded literally like the footsteps of doom to him.

Guilmon noticed the cool look on Rika's face and he began to wonder if he, or maybe it was Takato, who had done something wrong.

_Uh, oh,_ thought the crimson saurian. _Rika sure looks angry… Smells it too…_

Takato rubbed the back of his head as fear began to set in. Rika, the herald of that fear was approaching him with a look that could kill. What was a boy to do? Run? Fight? Stand his ground and hope for the best? With Rika, any of these options had the possibility to end badly. Well, he dug the grave, might as well lie in it…

So it was that Takato did what he did in most situations of this nature. He swallowed nervously as his heart was pounding away at his chest like a medieval battering ram and then gave Rika a wide, cheesy grin.

"So… uh… hi Rika. W-what're you doing here?"

Under the orange glow of the setting sun, Rika's expression remained unchanged, though Takato fancied that she at least looked slightly amused.

At least, that's what he hoped…

* * *

A/N: I got this idea a couple days ago, more as an image in my mind then anything else and it took me a while to figure out a way to express it. I'm not sure where I'm going to go with it though. Just a little short fic to play with while I plan the next arc of my 'Four Seasons' storyline. Don't know if I should complete this or not, though I'm sure that if I don't there are going to be people who would start calling for my head I don't. Meh, we'll see where this goes, and what the reactions going to be. Let me know what you think. Later. 

-Crazyeight

7


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Song of the Setting Sun

Chapter: 2

Rika's face was set in a frown as she approached Takato, making the boy sweat in anxiety while next to him, Guilmon looked on with a worried expression. They both knew that Rika wouldn't hurt either of them, as she had come a long way from the cold-hearted Tamer that saw digimon as nothing more than data, but no matter how much she had changed, she did have a way of making a person feel nervous whenever she had a look or feeling of irritation about her. During such moments, it was important to tread cautiously. Of course, that in itself could bring about trouble, so even more important, it was best to act as normal as possible. Of course, when one is around Rika, acting _normal_ when she's angry is for only the levelheaded type of person like Ryo and Henry. Takato was not the type of person who could easily control his emotions, or conceal them. Which was probably why he made a terrible liar, but that could also have something to do with the fact that he had always been taught that such an action was wrong.

Rika came to a stop in front of the goggle-wearing boy and crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she did so, while Takato's lopsided grin became even more lopsided. If that was even possible.

"Gogglehead," Rika said softly, though there was a hint of an edge to her voice that said that Takato might want to watch what he said next. "On you're way home?"

"Uh… yeah!" Takato rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm just… um… taking a short cut through the park and… stuff… Heh. Heh."

"Do I even need to point out that by going this way you actually take _longer_ getting to your place?"

"Well… only by a few minutes really," said Takato trying to avoid Rika's demanding gaze. Sheesh. This interrogation was starting to remind him of when Rika caught him at the Shinjuku tunnel when he had been going off to fight D-Reaper on his own. Of course, she also had the same idea…

"Right. You didn't just come here to take a detour Gogglehead, so why are you here?"

"Uh…" Takato sweated. Why was she doing this to him? "Who says that I'm here for anything else?"

Rika's eyes took on a whole new level of dangerous. Takato finally caved.

"All right, all right. I… I heard a noise so I came to investigate. I didn't mean to eavesdrop or anything…"

"You better not have," growled Rika. She considered telling him not to say anything about this to anyone else, but she didn't know what he had heard. "What was it that you heard?"

Takato fidgeted. He really didn't look comfortable right now, but the way Rika saw it, that was his own fault. She didn't really like it when people snuck up on her or anything.

"Um… well… I… uh…"

"C'mon Gogglehead. I'm not getting any younger here…"

"Okay! Okay! I thought I heard someone singing!"

There was a brief pause as Takato took a deep breath.

"And… uh… I thought that it sounded familiar so I… wanted to see where it was coming from. That's all."

Takato stood there, head hung down, and shoulders slumped while he waited for Rika's response. Odds were, if she was really angry she would clobber him. She would be in the right to do so and besides, he was probably overdue anyway. She hadn't hit him for when he had put the little _girly hearts_ (as she had put it) in the letter that he had sent to her mom and grandmother when they had been separated in the digital world. Sure, she had been angry, but for some reason she hadn't punched him. Maybe it was because she had been touched that he had thought of her when she wasn't around and needed to reassure her family and keep them from worrying. At any rate, he had owned up to it in the end, both with the letter and now with the eavesdropping. Surely this time she would teach him a lesson, right?

Rika's sigh caught him completely by surprise. Looking up, Takato's eyes widened as he saw that Rika's face had softened a bit, losing some of that harshness to it. For a brief second, Takato was struck by her appearance, framed perfectly against the light of the setting sun. It was almost as though he was seeing a side of her that very rarely showed itself, like when she had thanked him for sending the letter to her family, or when she had returned with Impmon to the Arc, or during their first encounter with the Devas when Miheramon pulverized Kyubimon on top of the Hypnos towers. Takato blinked, and then the old Rika seemed to come back, though still having lost that little bit of harshness as her anger cooled.

"Whatever," said Rika, shrugging it off. There followed an awkward moment of silence between them, where Takato fought the urge to shift from one foot to the other. He didn't want to look any more nervous in front of her than he already did. Guilmon looked back and forth between them, mentally breathing a sigh of relief as it now became clear that there wasn't going to be any trouble between the two Tamers. Guilmon's motion brought Rika back to reality.

"Don't you have to be getting home now, little boy?" Rika taunted, causing Takato to blush lightly while at the same time reminding him of when they had first met. Well, he wasn't going to talk back this time. After all, she didn't mean it, and she _did_ have a point after all. He did have to get home.

"Uh… right! Thanks Rika," said Takato, not sure what exactly it was that he was thanking her for. Rika raised an eyebrow. "Later." Takato turned around and began to head off towards the direction of home. Guilmon moved to follow him, at least only for a while to make sure that he left the park all right, but he stopped and turned to look at Rika. A goofy smile that was almost reminiscent of his Tamer appeared on his face.

"Hey Rika," the viral dinosaur said childishly. "Maybe you should sing more often. I'd like that. You have a nice voice."

Takato whirled around in shock.

"AAH! GUILMON!!"

Too late. The damage was done. Rika's face bloomed with a deep red color in her cheeks as she stared incredulously at the red dino before turning her back to him, causing Guilmon to look at her in confusion.

"Aw… did I say something wrong?"

_Aw jeez… you're asking that **now???** _

Takato once again felt that discomfort tensing up his body as he tried to think of something to alleviate the situation, but at the moment he was coming up with nothing.

"I… I gotta go," muttered Rika under her breath as she slowly walked off

"… … O-okay," stuttered Takato, giving Guilmon a look that said, _I can't believe that you just did that!_ "Uh… see you tomorrow?"

Rika didn't respond, but instead just kept on walking. Takato watched her sadly for a moment before turning to Guilmon. Guilmon's ears drooped.

"Guilmon…"

"What'd I do? I was just saying that her voice sounded good."

"Yeah, but… Rika… is… she doesn't like compliments. Or at least she doesn't take them very well. Unless it comes to beating the stuffing out of someone in a game of Digimon that is, but still."

"She'll be better tomorrow though, right?"

Takato smiled.

"Of course she will. Why wouldn't she be?" Deep in his gut though, Takato's stomach did a flip as the thought of _what if_ flew through his mind.

_Nah. I don't think that she'd let something like this bug her. She's too tough for that._

_…_

_…_

_Still, I wonder why she was singing in the first place. And in a playground!_

Takato shook his head and began to walk off towards home once more, with Guilmon striding next to him, his face still set in a worried expression.

* * *

_I don't believe this,_ growled Rika mentally as she tried to fight down the feeling of warmth that pervaded her face. _First the stupid Gogglehead compliments my shirt, and then his pet dino compliments my singing! Just what is it with those two? I swear their brains are running on the same wavelength or something…_

_"Well, they **are** partners,"_ spoke the voice of Rika's partner, Renamon through the mental rapport that they shared.

_Are you eavesdropping now, Renamon?_

_"I just felt the need to see what you were thinking. Excuse me for worrying and for invading your privacy."_

Rika could almost swear that she heard Renamon laugh lightly through their link.

_Renamon? Did you just… **chuckle**?_

_"No, Rika. Why would I?"_

_Well… even if you did, I still would've forgiven you._

This time Rika was _positive _that Renamon laughed.

_Something funny about this?_

_"I just find it interesting when you react this way. It's not often that someone makes you… **flustered**?"_

_Well, Gogglehead and Dino-boy certainly have a knack for embarrassing anyone,_ thought Rika. _Even me it seems. Now, are you going to let me walk home in peace, or am I going to have to stand for your teasing for the rest of my journey home?_

Rika felt a trickle of amusement seep through their link, but Renamon didn't say anything else, for which Rika was immensely grateful. Turning her thoughts away from the incident, Rika's pace quickened.

Unconsciously she began to hum the tune to her song once more.

* * *

The sun sunk beneath the horizon, leaving only a burning ember of daylight remaining. Soon that ember would be extinguished and night would truly reign over this area of the world. For a little while anyway. Eventually, dawn will come, and with it, new things. New life and new discoveries for all who are willing to rise with the sun. For now though, the world rests easy as all worries are cast adrift into the world of dreams…

* * *

A/N: A little bit short this time around (shorter than I'd like at any rate), but something told me to close the chapter off here. Probably would have been better if I had thought of this scene earlier so that it could have been incorporated into the first chapter, but I'm not going to bother fiddling around with it now. I do intend however, to continue doing this fic as ideas pop up (I've got a couple rolling around in my head), but it'll be a while before I can properly organize them. As things stand now, this story is a Rukato friendship fic with a _slight_ chance of turning into a Rukato romance later on (bear in mind however, that there is going to be some Jurato going on in between if I do decide to go down that road. Chances are I will, I just need to figure out a way to work with it). This is going to be a rather interesting challenge for me, as it will be another fic that I'll be launching into with no preconceived plans with where to go with it (my second or third one to date). Here's hoping that I can pull it off again and not choke. Later. 

-Crazyeight

5


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Song of the Setting Sun

Chapter: 3

The weekend. A time full of possibilities for a child, where an entire day is a universe within itself. The school days are an eternity away and yet that time is fleetingly finite. Well, that didn't matter at the moment. What did, for one boy, was the task that he had now set for himself today. A task that no one else, save for one should she agree to it, could be a part of. Most of his friends, the ones who already knew about it that is, had already given him the go ahead between snickers and thumbs being raised up, fully understanding that on this particular battlefield, the boy was on his own.

However, one friend could not seem to understand why he wasn't allowed to join him on this most noble, and perhaps most nerve wracking, of quests. That of young love.

"Oooh…" said Guilmon from his spot on the floor of his concrete hut. "I still don't understand why I can't come along."

Takato sighed, while behind him, his two friends Kazu and Kenta looked at each other and snickered, causing Takato's face to darken in a crimson color as the blood hit his cheeks in one mad rush. It had all started out simple enough. While he and his two friends were playing Digimon, Kenta had made an off-hand comment that the cherry blossoms had started blooming, and events followed from there with Kazu turning to Takato and telling him, with one very wide, knowing, and mischievous smile on his face, that perhaps he should ask Jeri if she wanted to go with the Goggle-wearing boy to see them. Takato had blushed deeply then, and was on the verge of becoming intensely flustered when Guilmon had asked him why his face was changing color. After Kazu and Kenta had finished laughing, Takato had decided not to deny it anymore. He _liked_ the girl with the green dress and sock puppet known as Jeri Katou. Thinking back on it, it was fairly obvious, even if it had taken a while for him to realize it himself. After a brief inner struggle, Takato decided that he might as well take Kazu up on his suggestion. After all, he had been pining for Jeri for a while now, often times too nervous to make any move that would seem like that he wanted to get into a serious relationship. Not that he was into that sort of thing, being a little young and everything, but he felt strongly about his feelings about the girl. He didn't want to rush things or anything, but maybe, just _maybe_, asking Jeri to go see the cherry blossoms with him would be the first step towards having a relationship with Jeri that went beyond friendship.

Now he had to convince Guilmon that this was something that he had to do on his own.

"Well… you see… um… ah… heh, heh…"

_Sheesh,_ thought Takato as he nervously rubbed the back of his head, feeling the temperature on his face skyrocket. He could probably melt steel with how warm he felt right now. _This is harder than I thought._

"What my stuttering and highly embarrassed chumley here is trying to say, Guilmon," said Kazu in a tone that was an almost eerie approximation of the boys' teacher, Ms. Asaji. Next to him, Kenta gave the visor-wearing boy a startled look before exchanging glances with his partner, MarineAngemon, who was hovering next to him. Kazu continued with his speech as though nothing was wrong. "Takato wants to ask Jeri out on a date, and it's strictly between them only."

"But that's what I just told him, Kazu," said Takato.

"Yeah, but you stuttered through half of it chumley, so it's no wonder that Guilmon didn't get it. Seriously Takato, you need to cool down or the next thing that you know you'll end up tripping after every third step in front of her. You don't want that to happen."

Takato blushed again, albeit more lightly this time, and Guilmon watched with curious look in his eyes. He had only the faintest understanding of human relationships, mostly from the musings of his Tamer and the warped mind of Henry's partner, Terriermon. He didn't really understand though why it was such a private thing, and why humans seemed to get so embarrassed about it. In fact, humans seemed to get embarrassed over the strangest things. Why, he had no idea but maybe he could ask Takato later.

"Mmmmnnn," groaned Guilmon, his ears drooping in disappointment. "Okay. We'll get to play afterwards though, right Takato?"

Takato nodded with a relieved smile on his face. "Sure thing, boy. I'll even bring you some bread to make up for it."

That cheered up the red dinosaurs spirits. There was very little in this world that could make Guilmon forget his troubles as easily as the thought of eating bread.

"All right," said Kazu triumphantly. "Now that that's settled let's settle a few things before you go."

"Huh?" Asked Takato, honestly baffled. "Like what?"

"Your appearance. Seriously Takato, you might want to consider ditching those goggles of yours. They may suit you when you're off taming or something, but if you wear them on a date they're just going to look goofy on you."

"No way," said Kenta. "If you do that, Jeri will know something's up and you'll ruin the whole thing!"

"If he goes down to her house and asks her out with those things on he'll ruin the whole thing!"

"No he won't!"

"Pipupi!" Said MarineAngemon from his place at Kenta's side.

"You said it," said Kenta, smiling at his diminutive fairy partner, while Kazu just stared at the pair blankly. Takato had decided to take this moment of distraction to slip out of the hut. Waving good-bye to Guilmon, Takato exited the structure, pausing only briefly to say bye to Guardromon, who was standing guard outside (being too big for Guilmon's home) and started heading down the stairs on his journey to Jeri's home. Guilmon's cry of _bye-bye_ brought Kazu and Kenta out of their argument to wish their friend the best of luck with his mission.

"You can do it, Takato!" Called out Kenta.

"Don't forget what I said about those goggles of yours!" Shouted Kazu.

As soon as their friend was out of sight, the two settled down, their facial expressions almost mirroring each other as they thought about the chaotic kid.

"Do you think that she'll say yes?" Asked Kenta.

"What're you talking about? Do you remember how they kept acting around each other during all those times that they've been together? It's pretty obvious that they both like each other. They're just afraid to admit it! I'm not worried though. Takato's been through some pretty tough stuff before. This should be a cakewalk to him. No problem right?"

"Yeah, I guess," said Kenta. Adjusting his glasses he looked over at his friend. "You know, you were more supporting then I would have given you credit for about this sort of thing. I would have expected you to make fun of Takato more."

Kazu _hmmphed_ and crossed his arms. "I'm not as big of a jerk as everyone thinks I am. I just show my friendship differently towards people." Kazu seemed to fall into deep thought for a moment before a wide grin spread across his face.

"You know, since we don't really have a whole lot to do now, we can follow Takato and see how big of a dork he makes of himself on this little venture of his."

"Kazu!"

"Aw come on! Admit it! It's always fun watching someone get embarrassed. Especially when that someone is chumley! I've never seen anyone's face get as red as his…"

"I don't know," said Guilmon from behind them. He looked like he was in deep thought, and was only paying attention peripherally to the world around him. "Yesterday Takato and I saw Rika's face get all red and funny looking…"

The two boys turned towards the crimson saurian, confusion etched onto their faces.

"Say wha…?"

* * *

Takato jogged easily through the park and down the streets towards his destination. Not hurrying, but not exactly taking his time either. He felt a little nervous at the prospect of asking Jeri to go watch the cherry blossoms with him; after all, it's not like it was something that he had done before… actually, scratch that. He had done it before, but not in this way. It had been more as a way to make up to Rika for letting it slip that the others were planning a birthday surprise for her (she hadn't been to thrilled to hear about it). It did sort of surprise him that he had suggested it in the first place, but then, Rika had been interrogating him and the mind has a way of grasping at the first thing that pops up to try and diffuse a potentially dangerous situation. Oh well. It's not like she had taken him up on the suggestion anyway (part of the reasoning for that had something to do with an attack from a Locomon and an invading army of Parasimon), so she obviously didn't take it seriously. Which was fine with him. Rika could be a little intimidating at times and he was fine with just having her for a friend. Besides, this was no time for thoughts like that. This was a day for both him and Jeri. That is, if she said _yes_.

With thoughts of Jeri running through his mind, Takato continued on his way, a beaming smile on his face that was as bright as the sun that shone above him.

Takato's heart thumped painfully in his chest as he knocked on the door of Jeri's home, thoughts on the girl whirling through his mind, most of them revolving around the last minute butterflies that normally showed up whenever he thought about Jeri in this way.

_What if she isn't here?_

A good question. Takato knew that her family owned a restaurant, and that Jeri occasionally worked there. It was pretty funny that they should have this much in common. His family owned a bakery; Jeri's family owned a restaurant. A weird coincidence that. Not as weird as his having a dream about Rika before he even met her but that was another story all together. Besides, it's not like that ever amounted to anything anyway.

Takato shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably. He could deal with Jeri having to be at the restaurant. After all, there was still plenty of time to see the cherry blossoms so he didn't have too much to worry about (plus it would also ease his nerves somewhat if he felt that he could postpone the dreaded _moment of truth_). But if she _was_ home…

_What if she says no?_

That was stupid, Takato told himself, trying to gather up his courage. Why should Jeri say no? They were friends, right? And she did let him walk her home that one time, right? That had to count for something so why was he so worried? Well, love isn't an easy thing for anyone to deal with, no matter who you are, and Takato was no exception. Just because he was able to face down large, city destroying monsters from an alternate plain of existence didn't mean that he could easily face the sort of problems one had to face when it came to dealing with the heart.

Life was certainly a funny thing, huh?

Finally the door to Jeri's home opened and Jeri's stepmother appeared at the entrance, a smile appearing on her face as soon as she saw who it was that was at the door.

"Ah. Takato," she said. "How good it is to see you again."

"Hi, Mrs. Katou," said Takato cheerfully, trying to hide the nervousness that he felt. "Is Jeri home?"

"Of course. Wait here a moment."

Takato nodded, feeling his heart take another painful thump in his chest as fear coursed through his veins. He had to get a grip on himself before Jeri showed up! Swallowing carefully, Takato shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling tension build up in almost every part of his body. The door opened up once more and Takato felt as though his heart just burst in his chest when he saw that it was Jeri.

"Takato…" said Jeri happily.

"H-hey, Jeri," said the goggle-wearing boy as he clenched his hands in his pockets. "I… uh… just stopped by today to… um… see how you were doing and…uh…"

Takato swallowed once more. God, this felt so hard!

Jeri looked at the boy with soft, caring eyes, and she smiled. Apparently he was nervous about something, and secretly she knew why, though at times even her heart denied it because, like Takato, those feelings frightened her. But she wasn't one to run away from them, especially when it came to her friends. To Takato most of all.

"Yes, Takato?" Jeri prompted.

"I… was wondering if you… um… wanted to go watch the cherry blossoms with me today?" There. He said it. That wasn't so hard now was it? Now if only his face would stop burning…

Jeri smiled sweetly at Takato, and Takato felt as though he had just seen a glimmer of hope in that smile.

"Of course Takato," said Jeri softly. Takato had to restrain himself from whooping with joy.

* * *

Rika Nonaka walked through the forest of Sakura trees, watching all the various couples who were basking in the glory of the pink colored trees. Rika tried not to show it, but she had to admit that it was kind of nice to see so many happy people in one place. Almost a year ago she would have told a different story but things have changed. She had changed, and was all the better for it. Almost without realizing it, Rika's mind traced its way to a memory from almost a month ago, her birthday to be more precise, when a certain boy had asked her to watch the Sakura trees with him…

Rika pulled her thoughts away from that memory. It was kind of stupid, she thought, to be thinking about that on a day like today. Still, the memory was there. A rather awkward memory since she hadn't once expected Takato to 'ask her out' so to speak, and it wasn't even that either. Not really. More like an apology for telling her about the surprise party that her friends were preparing for her, but his question did catch her off guard a bit. Not used to such things (and not much liking the idea of a party either) Rika had responded with her usual attitude when confronted with the possibility and asked that the party in question be canceled. Of course, with the arrival of Locomon, Gogglehead's question was immediately forgotten, though the party was able to run anyway. At least she didn't have to deal with the other half of the equation, but for the first time since the week of her birthday, she actually considered what might have happened had they actually gone to see the cherry blossoms (even though they weren't actually in bloom yet). It wasn't anything that she had expected from Takato, not even when she thought that he was following her. Maybe from Ryo, but Takato?

No.

_I should probably get out of here,_ thought Rika. _This place has to be affecting my brain or something if I'm starting to think about Gogglehead in that way._

As Rika continued on her course with the intention of finding a path that would lead her away from the Sakura trees her violet eyes caught site of a familiar duo entering the area. Turning her head in their direction she smiled slightly as she saw the familiar faces of Takato and Jeri, walking side by side as they strode beneath the pink leaves, Jeri laughing about something while Takato's face took on a slight discoloration that was akin to that of the trees. It was kind of funny looking at it. Rika took a quick look around their vicinity and raised an eyebrow when she saw that Guilmon was nowhere around.

_That's weird,_ thought Rika. _I wonder where Dino-boy is. Normally he sticks around Takato as though he were made of glue._

Rika considered this rare occurrence for a moment before shrugging it off. It was after all, quite possible that Takato and Jeri just wanted some time to themselves. Rika could understand that.

Rika frowned, feeling a slight amount of disappointment. Not a whole lot, but enough to warrant her attention. Maybe it was the memory that Takato had once asked her to go see the Sakura blossoms with him and she never gave him an answer. Of course, he hadn't tried approaching her with the notion since her party either so it's not like it was anything to get upset over. But that feeling of disappointment didn't go away. Well, she was sure that would change soon enough. Wasn't she going to get out of this place anyhow? Turning away from the couple, Rika prepared to resume her travels.

Too bad that a certain someone had just spotted her easily recognizable hair color and distinctive style, and called out her name.

"RIKA!" Called out Jeri Katou excitedly, causing the girl to freeze in her spot and turn around to see a smiling Jeri and Takato walking towards her. Rika's face assumed a calm, or rather, bored expression and she crossed her arms as she waited for them to get closer.

"Hey guys," said Rika, faking a nonchalant tone while a small smirk graced her features. "Here to see the cherry blossoms?"

Jeri nodded happily.

"Yeah, and then I saw you so I figured that we should come over and say hi. Are you here with someone?"

Rika scowled. "No, why would I be? I was just passing through…"

"Oh," said Jeri, her voice taking on a nervous background giggle. "Well, why don't you come with us then? There's no reason why you should be all alone."

_Okay… what's going on here?_ Thought Rika as she eyed the puppet girl carefully. Her eyes flitted over to Takato quickly and noted that he looked rather surprised by this sudden suggestion. And… maybe a little disappointed? Maybe that was her imagination.

"I don't think so. I don't really like watching cherry blossoms anyways, and I can see that you two are already busy…"

"Rika," said Jeri. "You could at least give it a try. And besides, you'll get to hang out with some friends instead of being alone…"

"Um… Jeri…" began Takato, unsure how he was supposed to approach this issue. On one hand, while it would be good to hang out with Rika, he had hoped that this time it would be just the two of them for once. On the other hand, he knew that it was best to not badger Rika about something when she didn't want to do it. She tended to get irritated when that happened.

"Yeah, Jeri," said Rika, taking up Takato's opening. "This isn't really my thing. I know that you wouldn't mind my company and the feelings mutual, it's just…"

Rika looked back at Takato for a second, and then returned her gaze to Jeri. Something in her eyes seemed to stop up what Rika wanted to say.

"… It's just… I…"

There was just no way out of it. Jeri's eyes told her that she _wanted_ Rika to come along. They almost looked to be pleading with her.

"… I… ug…"

What could she say?

_There are times where I almost wish that I still was the same old 'Digimon Queen' from last year,_ Rika thought.

Rika sensed a sliver of amusement course through the link that she shared with Renamon.

_This is **not** funny, Renamon…_

_"Whoever said that I thought that it was, Rika?"_ Enquired Renamon innocently.

7


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Song of the Setting Sun

Chapter: 4

Hanami. The traditional Japanese custom for enjoying flowers, mostly used as a reference for enjoying the blooming of Sakura trees, an event that lasts only one week all over Japan, from late March to early April. Centuries old, and still practiced to the enjoyment of all the citizens of Japan, no longer limited to such restraints like social class. It mostly consists of an outdoor party atmosphere for people, be it day or night, though the latter activity is referred to as _Yozakura_, literally translating as _Night Sakura_. During this part of the cherry blossom season paper lanterns are made and hung for the purpose of providing light during that time. All around the park people lounged about, some spread across the ground, others leaning against trees, and still more sitting upon picnic blankets, handing out various foods and, of course, the all important rice wine. It wasn't just couples who came here at this time, but family too. The park could be filled to the brim during the course of the week and it was important to find a pretty good spot to provide a picnic. Competition could be surprisingly fierce over such things, and people will be people after all. It is not at all uncommon to see people from companies standing guard at certain spots to discourage any would be 'spot stealers'.

Which was why the Wongs showed up early.

Henry removed a container of food from the families cooler and passed it to his older sister, who set it down in the middle of the blanket while their mother separated plates and chopsticks for everyone to use. Nearby, Suzie ran around with Lopmon, both of them apparently playing what looked like a game of _Airplane_. Lopmon had been steadily getting used to the girl's hyperactive energy (and crushing hugs that Terriermon kept claiming could crush the shell of a Tortomon), and was getting a rhythm for the type of games that she played, as it allowed her to get an idea of how the human mind worked. Though, given that it's Suzie Wong that we're talking about here, that might not necessarily be a good thing.

Nonetheless, Lopmon had come to act a little bit more childish lately in the company of the young girl. How it was that she never lost her respectful way of speaking in the process was still something to be marveled at.

"Ohhh…" moaned Terriermon from his spot on the blanket. "I don't know how Lopmon can act so carefree with Suzie. You'd think that the _Princess Pretty pants _treatment would have traumatized her by now."

Henry's sister, Jaarin, looked at Terriermon with a bemused expression on her face.

"You mean like you've been? I'm surprised that you didn't reveal your true nature earlier after the treatment that I've seen you get put through."

Terriermon chuckled.

"At least I know that I can last. No torture rack has got anything on Suzie once she gets her hands on you."

Henry frowned, though he couldn't help but have a small smile curve on his face. Like an old tradition, a familiar name came out of his mouth, so common now that it might as well have be a proverb or something by now.

"Terriermon…"

"Sheesh Henry. I didn't mean it."

"Yeah, Henry," teased Jaarin. "Momentai."

"Great. Now look at what you've done, Terriermon. You've corrupted my older sister."

"It's just so that your life stays interesting Henry," said Terriermon as he used his long ears to climb up onto his partner's shoulders.

"As if it isn't interesting enough already," grumbled Henry as he handed another container of food to Jaarin. Terriermon giggled and spread his ears outward, catching bits and pieces of conversation from the people around him and getting more than a few odd looks. No one around the Wongs freaked out though, as the citizens of Shinjuku was now used to the idea of digimon being among them. Well, the ones that stayed that is but there's no need to recap the reasons behind that again. Scanning the crowd, Terriermon kept an eye out for Henry's dad and older brother Rinchei, as _old man _Janyu had yet to show up from his duties at Hypnos and Rinchei was currently socializing with some friends of his that were in the crowd. Swinging his head around, the dog-bunnies eyes lighted on three familiar faces in the area, and he froze.

"Wha…?"

Henry looked up at his partner.

"What now?"

Terriermon narrowed his eyes, hopped up onto his partner's head and leaned forward to get a better view. Was that…? Could it be…? It was! Jeri… Rika… and… Takato. All three of them together beneath a Sakura tree. A little bit odd that this should be happening but then Terriermon had seen stranger things in his life, this least of all. Terriermon was about to say that it was nothing when he spotted something… shall we say… _interesting_?

Unless he missed his guess, and he could considering the distance he was at, it looked like Takato and Rika were… _blushing_!

"Man," chuckled Terriermon. "I never thought Takatomon could be such a lady-killer."

Henry looked at his digimon as though he had just lost his marbles.

"What are you getting at, Terriermon?"

Using his ears to grip Henry's head, Terriermon steered the boys face in the direction of Takato, Rika, and Jeri. Jaarin, curious as to what they were talking about, followed their gaze.

Henry raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, so Takato's with Rika and Jeri. I don't think that means anything."

"Actually," began Jaarin. "I can kind of see what he's getting at. I don't know your friends the way you know them Henry but the way that those two are acting…"

Henry really couldn't tell which two that they were referring to. By the sounds of things though, he was starting to think that Terriermon _had_ corrupted his sister to his way of thinking.

"I'm not sure what you or Jaarin's talking about though knowing you it probably isn't that hard to guess. Takato and Jeri don't seem to be doing anything that would suggest what _you_ might be thinking about," said Henry, reaching up to take the dog-bunny off his head. His hands froze when Terriermon spoke up once again.

"Then let me refresh your memory," said the rabbit digimon as though he were a teacher talking to a slow student. He cleared his throat a couple of times and paused for dramatic effect.

"Renamon and Guilmon sittin' in a tree…"

Henry's eyes widened as the strangely familiar tune brought home a memory, while next to them, Jaarin burst out laughing.

* * *

A few minutes earlier… 

_It's okay, it's okay, it's okay…_ thought Takato as he repeated the words over and over like a mantra. Except, there was a problem. It wasn't okay.

Takato breathed a sigh of exasperation as he felt his face heat up ever so slightly, grateful that no one was able to see it. He couldn't believe that Jeri had invited Rika to join them! Not that it was really a bad thing mind you but… well, it kind of put a hole in his sails. He wanted to spend time with Jeri and now it looked like he wasn't going to get that chance. He wondered if in some way, Jeri inviting Rika to join them said that he was failing the girl he liked.

_She had been so excited and happy when I asked her if she wanted to come with me to watch the Cherry blossoms. Did I do something wrong?_

That was just the thing. He couldn't think of anything that he might have done wrong. They were walking through the park, he had told her about some incidents involving Guilmon and the bakery, like how one time Guilmon bowled his dad over to get at a freshly baked batch of Guilmon bread, or another time when he had stuck his nose into some flower that his mom had just poured in, and _sneezed_! That, he recalled, was the first time he had ever heard his mother threaten the poor dinosaur with banning him from the kitchen, a possibility that apparently carried more weight than a Sovereign's command, and the crimison saurian had agreed to be good after that. He recalled that one especially had gotten Jeri giggling.

So what was the deal?

Takato thought back to all the other times that they had hung out, and the few times that he had walked her home, how they both seemed to dance around each other. Takato knew that he often felt more than a little fumble footed when he was around Jeri, and there were times where he thought that she was just a little bit nervous around him too, though to him it seemed as though she concealed it better. Maybe… maybe she was just a little nervous about being on a date with him. But… if they liked each other then why should they be nervous about it? An interesting thought. Takato silently wondered if there might be something to it.

_Ahhh… who am I kidding?_ Thought Takato. _I'd still be a nervous wreck even if I knew that Jeri liked me. Well, maybe not as bad as I am now but…_

Takato sighed. Life, he had decided, could be very confusing at times.

_Well, it's not like Jeri has gotten to see much of Rika during the past few days. Her family's restaurant has been kind of busy lately, and since she no longer has… Leomon…_ Takato's face fell a little at the memory of the proud lion warrior who had given his life in defense of their lives. _… Since she no longer has Leomon with her she can't join us in our Taming duties when we have to defeat a 'Wild One'. Heck, I see Rika more than she does, and she's usually busy_… _Yeah, that must be it. She just wanted to see Rika again and hang out with her. Besides, Jeri sees me almost all the time anyway and I didn't really 'ask her out' on a date or anything…_

Takato's smile returned to his face, still a little troubled, but worry was now departing his heart. He did wonder if he was just fooling himself, and perhaps he was, but a little hope was better to fall back on then none at all. And it's not like she just dumped him or anything. She just saw a friend that she hadn't seen in a while and wanted to hang out with her for a little while, and Rika's not a bad sort of person to hang out with, even if she could be a little bit scary at times.

Takato frowned again, as his thoughts settled on the red haired girl that he counted as one of his closest of friends. He hadn't really expected to see her around here, and hadn't expected to run into her so soon after yesterday. Well, maybe not. She wasn't the type of person to let a little something like his catching her singing keep her from going out into the world. He had to wonder about it though. Yesterday he had seen a side of her that rarely came out. Usually when that happened, she was upset about something in particular and when she was like that she tended to not be around anyone else, which brought to mind that age old question, _if a tree falls and no one's around, does it make a sound?_

Of course, Takato always knew that Rika had that side of her. Heck, everyone did. Well, maybe with the possible exception of Kazu and Kenta, especially Kazu since they found it difficult to believe that the fiery Tamer even had emotions, but Takato knew that wasn't the case. He had seen her show those emotions on numerous occasions, mostly during the occasions when she was confronted with the possibility of losing her partner, like in the battle against Harpymon, or their fights with Beelzemon, D-Reaper… Right up until Locomon the list seemed to be endless.

And the song…

Takato snapped out of his daze as he realized that he had arrived at his destination. Fishing into his pockets for what money he did have, Takato took a quick look over his shoulder. Things may not have gone the way that he had expected them to, but that didn't mean that he couldn't try and make everybody involved happy.

* * *

Takato had temporarily taken a leave of absence from the two girls to go get something to eat, so Jeri and Rika stood underneath a Sakura tree and waited. To say that Rika was not very happy about this was an understatement. Well, not exactly. She wasn't fuming, but she certainly was a long way from comfortable. She didn't know why she was here really. The way Takato was acting it was pretty obvious that he shared her disposition. She couldn't blame him. From what little she could gather, which wasn't much at all when you got down to it, this was _supposed_ to be an outing for Jeri and Takato. Jeri's inviting her to tag along made the red haired girl feel as though she was a fifth wheel around them, and that was not something that she enjoyed at all. Looking over at the puppet-loving girl, Rika pondered her reasons for inviting her to tag along. To be honest, Jeri looked a little bit nervous, and she rubbed her right hand every now and then as though it bothered her in some way. 

_Oh, right. The sock puppet._

Jeri had taken to not wearing her old sock puppet for a while now. It still made its regular appearances, but those appearances had been becoming fewer and fewer as time went on. Rika had come to understand that the puppet was often her way of dealing with a situation that made her uncomfortable. A little strange she thought, but everyone had their vices and crosses to bear, and Rika was no different. Jeri's sock puppet was just one of them, and old habits are difficult to break.

"All right, Jeri," said Rika. "You wanna tell me what's going on?"

Jeri looked a little bit startled. "W-what do you mean?"

"It's pretty obvious that you're nervous about something," said Rika. "And then there's the fact that you invited me to tag along when you and Gogglehead are on a _date_. Not that I don't want to hang around you guys, but I've gotta admit, it does seem a little suspicious."

Jeri looked at the ground shyly, not wanting to meet Rika's eyes.

"Sorry," said Jeri, finally looking up at Rika and meeting her gaze. "It's just that… sometimes I feel a little… funny around Takato, you know?"

"No, I... can't really say at all that I know."

Rika prayed that her expression didn't change at all when she said that. Jeri continued.

"I… I know that you're not into this sort of thing, but I was kind of hoping that you could help me around him."

"What's there to help? You've known him longer, and unless I miss my guess he likes you. I don't think that you have anything to worry about with that Gogglehead. Unless it came to tripping over himself."

Jeri seemed to perk up some at this.

"Yeah. Takato's a good guy isn't he?"

For some reason, Rika began to feel a little uncomfortable and a small trickle of heat warmed her cheeks.

"Er… yeah…"

Jeri gave Rika a strange look. Something was up with the fiery haired Tamer. But what?

_Well, maybe she just doesn't like to talk about this kind of thing,_ thought Jeri. Looking at her though, Jeri began to develop a sneaking feeling that may only have been half the case. True, Rika wasn't comfortable talking about things like feelings. And from what she had heard it had taken her forever just to realize that she cared for Renamon and her family. Jeri shrugged and looked over to see Takato heading towards them.

"Oh, here comes Takato."

Rika nodded a little numbly, lost in her own thoughts, but not enough to miss the fact that Takato was walking towards them with what looked like a couple cones of ice cream. Maybe now she'd be able to get out of here and leave these two alone. Takato came up to the two girls and handed one ice-cream cone to Jeri and then, to Rika's complete and total surprise, handed the other to her with a nervous smile. Rika's cheeks bloomed red and she looked at him, startled. Jeri watched this rare phenomenon occur with more than a _little_ amusement.

"Um… why…?"

Now it was Takato's turn to look a little red in the face.

"Um… well… because I… uh… didn't want you to feel left out and… er… I only had enough money for two anyways…"

Takato coughed and looked down at his feet as his voice trailed off at the end of the sentence. The way that had sounded just seemed so… _wrong_ to him. He was sure that Rika must've felt insulted by that. Well, that was him being his usual, clumsy self as always. He was only trying to make her feel comfortable. After all she _did_ say that she wasn't into looking at Cherry blossoms...

Rika accepted the ice cream, though she was no longer sure if she wanted it now. This was becoming just a little too much for her. She couldn't very well give it back without making Takato feel bad either, so it seemed that the best course of action was to go with the flow.

"Um… well… _thanks_," said Rika, feeling her cheeks warm up just a little bit more.

Jeri watched the scene with more than a little amusement, and giggled lightly at the pair, causing Takato to blush a little bit more, and Rika to turn to her and give her a glare.

"Thanks for the ice cream Takato," said Jeri between giggles. Rika just rolled her eyes and leaned back against the Sakura tree, frowning and holding her ice cream as though she wasn't sure what to do with it. Takato just rubbed his head sheepishly and mumbled something that sounded like _thanks_ before leaning against the same tree as Rika, causing the girl to give him an odd look before taking her ice cream and giving it a lick, albeit blushing lightly again.

As though the scene were like a flash light in a dark room, it caused a thought to occur to Jeri as she looked back and forth between the two, gauging Rika's reaction to the goggle headed boy.

_I wonder…_

"So… uh, Jeri?" Asked Takato tentatively. Jeri looked at him and smiled, the strange thought gone as if it had never been.

"Yes, Takato?"

Takato looked a little embarrassed.

"Um… what do you want to do now?"

* * *

Terriermon continued to watch the three children with growing interest. Henry took a moment to eye the little dog-bunny in between mouthfuls of rice balls. 

"You know, Terriermon," said Henry. "It's not nice to stare."

"I can't help it, Henry," said Terriermon. "This just seems so _funny_! Out of all the people that we know, Takato's the only one that ever seems to make Rika blush! You haven't done it, I _highly _doubt Kazu of Kenta have done it, Suzie and Jeri I can't even see doing that, Ryo…"

"We don't know really what went on between those two when they met up in the digital world other than that Kazu got her angry enough to strike out on her own," Henry reminded.

"Okay," said the dog-bunny. "I'll give you that, but still. Unless someone comes forth saying otherwise, Takato's the _only_ one that's pulled it off, and just by being his usual Takato-ish self! You don't see Kazu or Kenta getting that kind of mileage with Rika just by _being themselves_ now do ya?"

Henry chuckled. With that line of reasoning, he found it difficult to argue with his partner.

"Just let them be, Terriermon. I'm sure it's not at all what it looks like. The others were probably busy or something and Rika and Jeri were most likely the only ones around…"

"… Even though Rika doesn't like these kinds of things," said Terriermon with a smirk. Henry sighed.

"You are incorrigible," the Chinese boy said, and before Terriermon could say anything else, Henry stuffed a rice ball into his mouth to shut him up.

"Here, eat this. It tastes good."

"Mmmggmmph!"

* * *

7 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Song of the Setting Sun

Chapter 5

A green colored Frisbee soared through the sky, it's plastic surface glinting in the sun until it was snatched out of the air by a slightly tanned hand with a yellow colored band wrapped around one wrist. With a laugh, Takato Matsuki turned around and flung the Frisbee back to the person who had thrown it, a boy with dark hair, gray eyes, and an orange vest. Henry was considered the brains of the group of children known as the Tamers and was, for his sins, the partner of the long eared digimon known as Terriermon. With smooth, lightning quick reflexes trained into him by his practice in the martial arts, Henry Wong caught the Frisbee with stunning ease and then sent the disk in the direction of his partner (though at a much lower height to compensate for the dog-bunny's size), who caught the free flying object deftly with his ears, and with a slight variation with his Terrier Tornado technique, sent the Frisbee flying at Takato, who just barely missed getting nailed in the head by the flying missile.

"Hey!" Shouted the goggle wearing boy, while across from him Henry shook his head in resignation, but still found it necessary (no matter how many times he had done it) to scold the mischievous digimon.

"Terriermon…"

"What? I didn't mean it! Momentai!"

And Henry responded with his answer to the dog-bunny's ever-favorite word, though this time with a slightly heightened sense of agitation in his voice.

"Terriermon…"

"Sorry… sheesh…"

"Hey!" Shouted Jaarin from over at her corner of the playing field. "Are we going to play already, or are we going to listen to you two trade phrases? C'mon already!"

Takato, who had just retrieved the Frisbee, laughed at the scene and sent the Frisbee in Jaarin's direction, who caught it almost as deftly as her younger sibling before sending it back towards Terriermon.

"Nothing funny this time, Terriermon!" Jaarin shouted at the dog-bunny just as he raised his ears to catch the Frisbee. Terriermon gulped as the oncoming projectile flew closer.

* * *

_Stupid Gogglehead,_ thought Rika as she smiled at Terriermon's accidental attempt to bean the boy. Of course, it missed him, having been saved at the last minute by tripping backwards as soon as he saw the Frisbee coming at him at a rather high speed. Hardly surprising, as it was Takato, who Rika sometimes thought of as the _walking accident waiting to happen_. Sometimes it was just amazing how the kid's clumsy nature could yield such positive results, but that's what happened, just as often as it did the negative, but always when it counted.

Next to the red haired girl sat Jeri, who giggled at the scene. They were both sitting on the Wong's picnic blanket with Suzie, Lopmon, and Suzie's mother Mayumi, all having opted to sit and relax for a bit while the boys, along with Jaarin, had some fun.

It had happened shortly after Takato had asked Jeri what she wanted to do next. Jeri had spotted the familiar figure of Lopmon being chased around by one energetic Suzie that had led Jeri to believe that the Wongs were in the area as well, and that it would perhaps be nice to see them for a while. Almost inspired you could say, at least from Rika's point of view (even though she was a little distracted by sensing Renamon's amusement at her reaction to being treated to some ice cream by _Gogglehead_), since Jeri was still a little bit anxious around the boy and didn't want to appear that way. So the three of them marched up to where Jeri had seen Suzie and found the Henry, his mother and two sisters, having a picnic and the Wongs politely asked them to join them. At this, Rika was glad for, as she was no longer allowed to feel like a fifth wheel around Jeri and Takato, and could socialize with the others without feeling like she was intruding on anything.

One thing that made her feel a little uncomfortable though, was the fact that Terriermon kept making strange, not so subtle glances at her and Takato, with one very noticeable grin on his face, but since he didn't say anything she let the rabbit think whatever he wanted.

So far Terriermon remained _good_ on that front.

After a few more minutes of watching the Frisbee fly back and forth, Jaarin Wong broke away from the group and went over to where the Picnic blanket and sat down, digging through the picnic basket as she did so.

"I'm getting something to drink Mom," she said as she rummaged around.

"All right," said Mayumi, pushing up her glasses as she looked at her eldest daughter. "Since you're already there could you get some for Suzie too? I'm sure that she and Lopmon would like something to drink."

Jaarin sighed. "Sure Mom."

"YAAAY!" Squeeled Suzie as she clutched her partner to her in a crushing hug, causing the long eared, dark colored version of Terriermon to grunt in discomfort. Rika and Jeri exchanged glances. How it was that Lopmon put up with Suzie as her partner was beyond their comprehension. Jaarin gave Suzie her refreshment and then settled down next to the other two girls. Jaarin eyed them closely. Jeri had a simply radiant smile on her face as she watched the game progress back and forth while Rika, for the most part, maintained a rather bored expression on her face, broken every so often by a small smile whenever Takato went and did something clumsy or stupid. As much as it wasn't her business, Terriermon's words echoed in her mind and she couldn't help but wonder… well, it was probably nothing. On the few occasions that they had met, Rika gave Jaarin the impression that she was rather distant from people. Not the sort of person who would go to gatherings of this type, but who was she to judge a book by its cover? After all, she seemed to get along fine with Henry. Well, perhaps now was as good a time as any to get to know Henry's friends a little better, as she didn't normally socialize with them.

"So," began Jaarin as she smiled at Rika and Jeri. "You two having fun?"

"Of course," said Jeri sweetly, while Rika shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. Jaarin felt a little put off by the rather dismissive response, but she decided to press on.

"I'm surprised that you're here though, Rika. When we saw you three earlier Terriermon remarked that you normally don't like this kind of thing."

"Oh, that's because when Takato and I met up with her I invited her to join us," said Jeri. "It didn't seem right to just leave her alone so…"

"Oh please, Jeri," said Rika sarcastically, giving Jeri a rather amused look as she gauged her reaction to her next words. "You just didn't want to be alone with Takato on your _date_ because you were getting nervous."

Jeri blushed a deep crimson red and fidgeted with her right hand.

"Um… well…"

Jaarin raised an eyebrow and smiled at Jeri.

"On a date, huh?"

Jeri blushed even more and looked down, not wanting to meet Jaarin or Rika's eyes.

"Well… not exactly. Takato just asked me if I wanted to go see the Cherry Blossoms with him, and it sounded like fun so…"

Rika sighed and rolled her eyes.

"_Jeri_…"

"It's a date all right," said Jaarin with a knowing smirk on her face.

"But," began Jeri. "He… didn't ask me to go on a date with him…"

"Jeri," began Rika. "This is _Takato_ we're talking about. He'd be too much of a nervous wreck to ask you to go out with him directly. At least this way he gets to spend time with you without feeling as though he's under pressure or anything to be the knight in shining armor riding in on a white horse to sweep you off your feet or something."

Suzie, who had been listening peripherally to the conversation spoke up next.

"But I thought _Angwy Kid_ became a knight when he and Gui… Gui…" Suzie paused as she tried to pronounce the name of Takato's partner, but Rika and Jeri got what she was getting at.

"Leave it to Suzie to ruin my point," said Rika in a deadpan voice.

"Rika!" Scolded Jeri, while next to them, Jaarin just laughed.

"It's all right," said Jaarin. "Suzie does have a way of doing that sometimes, and she does have a point anyway. Doesn't your friends, Takato, turn into a knight when he… um… _merges_ with his partner? That is, if I remember Henry's stories correctly…"

"Yeah," said Jeri. "Takato and Guilmon become _Gallantmon_. He does look like a knight…"

"Now if only they would stop tripping over themselves," said Rika sarcastically.

"Rika…" began Jeri once again, and Rika sighed.

"All right, Jeri. They do okay. After all, it wasn't all that long ago that those two dim bulbs destroyed an army of Parasimon single handedly…"

Jeri smiled, remembering watching it on the news that day. She hadn't been able to see the whole thing, but based on the few eyewitness accounts in the news reports, and from what the others had told her afterwards, that was what pretty much had happened. Something during the fight had triggered Takato's mode change and he obliterated the entire Parasimon army in one shot.

"Sounds like a fairy tale dream come true," said Jaarin looking at Jeri with a smile. "You've got yourself a knight in shining armor. Henry said something about Takato rescuing you once during the time last year that that D-something…"

"D-Reaper," said Rika. Jaarin nodded and continued.

"…_D-Reaper_ attacked?"

"Well, I was unconscious when he got me out of there, but yeah, he did. Just like he did with Rika."

Jaarin then turned towards Rika, who was glaring at the two of them, and cursing Jaarin silently for ever bringing up this conversation.

"Really?"

"Yup. Back during the Parasimon attack," answered Jeri. "I saw a brief image on the TV that showed Takato and Guilmon as Gallantmon trying to save Rika from one of the Parasimon."

"Oh yeah. I remember seeing that later that night. I thought he looked rather heroic in that fight. Didn't know that he was rescuing Rika though. I have to say though, it did almost look like something out of a story book."

"He just _had_ to biomerge into a knight didn't he?" Growled Rika in frustration as she felt her face heat up just a little bit. Jaarin cocked an eyebrow.

"What? Didn't like being a damsel in distress?"

Rika's answering glare caused Jaarin to visibly flinch. Apparently Rika didn't like being in that role.

"Ah… well…" began Jeri, deciding that now was the appropriate time to change the subject, or at least try and redirect its focus. "…So you're family is… um… here having a normal get-together?"

Jaarin sighed. "Yeah, but Dad is at that Hypnos place still doing some work so we have no idea when he's getting out…"

"Jaarin," began Mrs. Wong. "You know how important his work at Hypnos is!"

Jaarin rolled her eyes. "I know Mom. We have a constant reminder of that living in our household…"

"Jaarin…" began Mayumi Wong in a tone that sounded eerily like how Henry would address Terriermon whenever the little dog-rabbit was being his usual blunt self. Jaarin sighed.

"Sorry Mom…"

Mayumi gave her daughter one last withering look before giving a light chuckle and returning her attention to the game of Frisbee that was going on, and Jaarin returned her attention to Jeri.

"So what do you and Takato have planned for later?" She asked giving a sly smile. Jeri blinked and then looked down.

"Um… actually… I… I don't know. I never really thought about it much outside of just watching the Cherry Blossoms…"

"You sound nervous…" began Jaarin but the sound of Rika muttering something caught her attention.

"I don't know why she gets so nervous. Takato likes her and she likes him. What's there to get nervous about?"

"And what about you?" Asked Jaarin. Rika looked at Henry's older sister, surprise written on her face for only a brief second before her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"What about me?"

"Have you been confronted with something like what Jeri's going through? If you have some wisdom that you'd like to depart on your friend then maybe you'd like to share it. So spill. Have you?"

Rika looked at Jaarin for a few seconds before her gaze slid away and rested on the form of Takato, who was currently deadlocked in a race with Terriermon over who would get to the Frisbee first, and the girl's face softened.

"Once," Rika whispered, almost inaudibly, but the two girls caught her answer.

Jeri smiled at her red haired friend. It wasn't something that she really had expected to hear being admitted from the fiery Tamer, given that her rather aggressive personality made most of the male Tamers rather tense around her, but she never discounted it. Rika, after all, was quite beautiful for a girl her age.

"Oh Rika," she said, happy for her friend. "That's so nice. So… who was it?"

Rika turned to Jeri, and blinked

"Who was what?"

Jeri cocked her head to one side, but never lost her sweet smile as she rephrased her question. Jaarin leaned in to hear what Rika had to say.

"You know… the guy who asked you to go out with him. What happened? Did you say _yes_?"

Rika's face turning slightly red, and she looked away.

_I can't tell her,_ thought Rika. _Not while she and Takato are supposed to be spending the day together._

"It doesn't matter," muttered Rika, her voice flat.

"Rika…" Jeri prompted, but the girl fixed a glare at the puppet-loving girl and clenched her fists.

"I don't know why we're even talking about this stuff! I don't even _like_ talking about it! I had to deal with it enough from my Mom when she used to try and get me to put on dresses…!"

Jaarin's eyes widened at that, and she restrained the urge to laugh. She had just found out a whole new facet to Rika's personality. Meanwhile, Jeri held up her hands in placating gesture.

"All right, Rika. All right. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Rika began to relax. Her agitation didn't quite leave her however, nor did the redness that had grown in her cheeks, but she was satisfied now that the conversation had ended.

Or did it?

Suddenly a devious grin broke out on Jeri's face and she leaned forward, speaking just loud enough for Rika to hear her.

"Just out of curiosity… was it Ryo?"

The redness in Rika's face returned in full force, only this time more out of anger than out of embarrassment.

"Jeri…" Rika growled, and suddenly Jeri realized that she had pushed the wrong button. Even though Rika had decidedly warmed up to the Legendary Tamer since the day that they met, she still made it quite plain that she wasn't too fond of him. Whether it was because of his disappearance back into the digital world shortly after getting their partner's back, or something else, Jeri wasn't sure. All she knew was that Ryo was a rather sensitive subject when it came to the Digimon Queen, and that it was perhaps not the wisest move in the world to tease her about him.

"I'm sorry Rika…" Jeri began but Rika didn't give her a chance to continue. Getting up from off the blanket, Rika stormed off while Jeri and the three Wongs watched her worriedly.

"I'm need to be alone," Rika muttered.

Jeri got up to follow her, as did Jaarin but her mother stopped her and shook her head.

"Don't," Mayumi said softly, though her face cast a worried look in the direction of the two girls. She had been listening to their conversation only slightly, not wanting to eavesdrop (though for lack of anything better to do, she did a little bit), and not wanting to barge in. She had seen the look that Rika had sent in Takato's direction earlier, and had wondered about it, but for the sake of the young girl she hadn't brought it up. Whatever had been going through her mind was for her to deal with unless she said otherwise. Looking back at her daughter, Mayumi continued."This is between them. You should let them handle it on their own."

Jaarin looked back at the retreating form of Rika with Jeri following behind her as they headed off into the Sakura trees.

* * *

Takato laughed as Terriermon fell flat on his face trying to catch the Frisbee. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught site of Rika walking off with Jeri pursuing her. A question formed in his mind as to what was going on…

"Takato!" Called out Henry. "Look out!"

_Wha…?_ Takato turned just in time to see the Frisbee that they had been playing with flying right towards his face, and this time he had no time to dodge it.

_BOP! _

The flying disk impacted with the boys face, causing him to stumble backwards a few steps and put one hand on the spot where it had struck him.

"Owww…"

There was an audible giggle from one, long eared digimon, followed by a sigh of exaspiration from his dark haired partner.

"Terriermon…"

"Momentai!"

_Maybe I shouldn't have laughed at him,_ chuckled Takato humorously, still clutching his face.

* * *

6 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Song of the Setting Sun

Chapter: 6

Jeri tried to catch up to Rika, but the fiery Tamer had set a fearsome pace, forcing Jeri to almost break into a jog just to catch up. Jeri could have kicked herself for teasing Rika. Rika had the tendency to become annoyed and angered very easily, particularly when it came to the other Tamers and especially when it came to Ryo, but usually she held back when it came to her. Sure, Rika had moments where she would snap at her (as had happened one time in the digital world after Takato, Henry, and Terriermon had been separated from the group) but such moments were rare. There were times when Jeri had considered their friendship as being rather _sisterly_ in nature, though standoffish at times, but that had more to do with Rika's personality than anything else. If Jeri knew anything though, it was that Rika wouldn't have gotten this upset with her over the topic that they had been discussing. Well… the _Ryo_ part was pushing it, but the red haired girl had shown herself to be more tolerant, though still fairly irritated, of the Legendary Tamer then when Jeri had first heard mention of him in Rika's presence. Heck, she had even called him a friend once (though she claimed to have used the term _loosely_ when she admitted it), so she didn't think that it was that big of a deal.

Rika strode into a closely bunched group of Sakura trees, coming up to one and halting, muttering what sounded like insults. Jeri followed, keeping a cautious distance as she approached her friend, taking in her body language and looking for any of the dangerous signs that normally came with Rika when she was angry.

_Why can't I help but feel that there's more going on here than what she's showing,_ wondered Jeri as she looked at her friend.

An astute thought, but before Jeri could call out Rika's name Renamon appeared out of thin air next to her partner, and looked at her worriedly. Jeri stopped in place and listened carefully to the two, obscured partially by a Sakura tree. A feint memory came to her of a time when she had been talking to Takato, right before she met Guilmon.

_"I know it's not polite to eavesdrop…"_ the memory whispered, but Jeri shooed it away.

"Stupid… idiotic…" muttered Rika, irritation and frustration quite plain in her voice.

"Rika?" Enquired Renamon.

"I can't believe this… I just _can't _believe this…"

"Rika, are you upset with Jeri?"

Jeri held her breath.

"No…" said Rika, sounding as though she was trying to calm down, and Jeri let out the breath that she had been holding. What Rika said next though caught her attention.

"I'm upset with Takato."

_What? _

As though Renamon had heard Jeri's unspoken question, the kitsune digimon gave voice to it, this time tilting her head to one side, her way of asking Rika to clarify what she meant. Rika sighed.

"That stupid Gogglehead," Rika growled.

"Perhaps it would help if you could tell me what it was that he did to upset you. Is this about yesterday?"

Jeri cocked an eyebrow.

_What happened yesterday?_

Renamon didn't elaborate on this little tidbit unfortunately, and Rika continued with the string of conversation.

"No," Rika grated. "It's… I can't _believe_ him sometimes! How he can do these things and… Rrrrgh! He can be so _stupid_ and clueless sometimes it's _annoying_! Ryo's at least aware when he does this sort of thing…"

Jeri tilted her head to one side in imitation of Renamon's confusion.

_I don't understand. What did Takato do that's got her so upset with him?_

"Rika…" prompted Renamon once more, and again Rika sighed, crossing her arms the girl wandered closer to the Sakura tree that she had been standing near and leaned on it. Rika didn't say anything at first. She looked tense, like she was debating whether or not she should say what was on her mind. Renamon just watched her, and waited.

Finally Rika spoke.

"Remember the day of my birthday party?"

Renamon nodded, and waited for Rika to continue.

"I still can't believe that he asked me that."

"Rika, he was just trying to apologize to you. He knew that you didn't like surprises…"

"And like the stupid Gogglehead that he is, he spoiled it anyway! Makes me wonder what he was thinking when he asked me to go see the Cherry Blossoms with him, and they weren't even _in bloom_ yet!"

Jeri's breath caught in her throat. The feint rays of understanding were starting to dawn on her. Even though she hadn't known about this, she could now see why Rika had not wanted to tell her about it, and why she didn't want to come along to begin with. Although she had expressed a lack of desire to watch the Sakura trees blossom, it must have been a little hard on her, being with Jeri and Takato in that setting, the same setting that Takato had asked Rika to go to almost a month ago. And… Jeri put a hand to her mouth in surprise as she remembered Takato buying her an ice cream cone. Based on what Jeri had heard so far, and from what she had seen today, Takato had only been trying to be friendly both times to the redheaded Tamer. While nice on his part, it probably wasn't a very good idea when considering the fact that Rika had little experience with the field of emotions, and no doubt it was confusing her greatly. Jeri frowned. There had to be more to it than just this. Rika wasn't the type to get upset over something like this. Rika had never been very outspoken when it came to the subject of relationships and didn't show much interest in having one. Granted, it was probably the first time that anyone had ever approached her about this sort of thing (though on the few times that Ryo was around, he teased her about it, but that's what it always looked like; teasing), but…

Even though Jeri knew that she shouldn't be listening to this conversation, she found herself unable to just up and leave. There was something about this whole thing that held her attention. Perhaps it was because it was revealing something about Rika's personality that few had ever seen before.

"Rika… I don't know why you're so upset about this. You didn't complain once when he forgot about his proposal after the battle with Parasimon, and it's not like he was putting you in a position where you _had_ to go…"

Rika scowled, apparently not quite ready to let go of her frustration.

"So why does it always seem like he's doing something that says otherwise? Ever since we met he's always done something stupid or said something that gets me thinking that… Rrrrgh!" Rika found herself unable to finish. Her face turned red and she looked away from her partner, her expression a picture of frustration. And while Jeri didn't take any notice of it, Renamon saw Rika fidgeting unconsciously with her full heart T-shirt, and she cocked an eyebrow.

"I see…" said Renamon after a moment, which brought another indignant reaction out of the girl.

"It's like he's not even trying or realizing what he's doing! I mean, I always knew he was a stupid Gogglehead, even when he told me about that stupid dream he had about me…"

Jeri gasped at that, though she kept the sound to a minimum. Even so, Renamon's sharp sense of hearing caught the sound, and the kitsune digimon turned her head in Jeri's direction. Rika, who was continuing with her rant, did not notice Renamon's sudden motion. Jeri met Renamon's eyes for a second, her whole body frozen in place as she silently prayed that she hadn't been noticed (though, chances were, she had been). Once that second was over, Renamon returned her gaze to Rika, listening to the girl as she continued to pour her hearts inner workings out to the vulpine digimon.

Jeri stumbled backwards, and though she kept her footing she felt like her whole world felt like it had been turned upside down. This… just seemed like too much information too soon. Jeri couldn't even begin to think what sort of ramifications this could have, what any of what she had just heard meant. And now…

Jeri looked down at the ground. She was starting to feel bad that she had intruded now, and that she had asked Rika to come along. Confusion and pity for Rika whirled about in Jeri's mind as she looked up at Rika and Renamon one more time. Realizing once more that she was intruding, Jeri turned, and after taking one last look at the pair, walked back towards the festivities of the Hanami festival.

* * *

Renamon had seen Jeri in her place behind a Sakura tree but chose not to comment on it. It would be just one more complication that Rika could do without at the moment. Perhaps… perhaps she should tell Rika later. Maybe after she had a word with Jeri about what she had seen and might have overheard. For now though, Renamon's attention was focused on Rika, who had now lapsed into a silence, having finished her ranting, though she still unconsciously fingered her shirt, perhaps remembering that awkward moment in the tunnels when Takato had complimented it. Rika looked as though she had calmed down considerably, though her face had taken on a slight red tint to it that, had Renamon not seen Jeri nearby, the kitsune might have found amusing. Renamon sighed mentally. She did not understand human emotions all that well, though she had an idea as to how people could be affected by them. Renamon was not ignorant of emotions the way Takato's partner Guilmon had been ignorant of many things when he first came into the real world, it was just that she chose to control them. She was more of a fighter, and such a lifestyle and philosophy held little room for feelings such as love, though she did feel them from time to time, whether as herself or when she was joined with Rika in their biomerged form of Sakuyamon. 

Renamon briefly wondered whether or not she should talk to Henry about this, as she had back when she and Rika were having problems.

"What do you intend to do?" Asked Renamon. Rika looked up at her partner and blinked before looking away, her face looking contemplative as she gave the question the thought that it deserved. Her answer, when it was finally given, was rather predictable however.

"Nothing," said Rika. "I'm not going to do anything about it."

Renamon looked at her partner, not saying a word. Rika looked back and narrowed her eyes slightly.

"What's that look for?"

"I'm just curious. Have you considered what it is that's making you feel this way?"

Rika looked away, though her face was now set in a fierce expression.

"I don't know what you're getting at Renamon, but I'm not going to do anything that's going to upset what Jeri has with Takato. I don't even know what I feel for him anyway. The last thing that I need _either _of them thinking right now is me having some sort of stupid crush on Gogglehead or something…"

_Rika,_ thought Renamon sadly, though her face remained unchanged. _If only you knew…_

But there was still something that Rika had said that Renamon felt needed to be brought her attention, if only to make it look like everything was still fine until when and _if_ Jeri decided to confront Rika about what she had overheard.

Face still unchanged, though her eyes sparkled with just a slight hint of amusement, Renamon looked at her partner with only the faintest of smiles gracing her face.

"I assume that by _crush_ you mean something other than being _infatuated_ with Takato."

Rika snorted and pushed off of the Sakura tree, her eyes closed and head held high so that she didn't have to look at her partner.

"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that Renamon…"

* * *

Jeri returned shortly to the Wong's picnic blanket and sat down on it with a troubled look on her face. Jaarin and Mayumi gave her a worried look. 

"Is everything okay?" Asked Jaarin. Jeri looked up slowly and forced a smile on her face, and assured Henry's older sister that everything was fine, but she'd rather that she didn't have to talk about it, or have it brought up either when Rika came back. Jaarin, looking at Jeri curiously, nodded and commented that Takato had approached earlier wondering if everything was okay and when she told him that Rika had gotten a little miffed over the subject of Ryo, Takato had looked like he had visibly relaxed and laughed about it, saying something about how Rika always seemed to get upset over the subject of Ryo. The two girls shared a light chuckle at this, though Jeri felt like it had been forced a little. Looking out over the game of Frisbee that seemed to have gone on uninterrupted since Rika had left, only this time Suzie and Lopmon had joined in. Suzie was having a much more difficult time playing with the older, taller boys and the two digimon due to her size and age (and the fact that she was, well, human. A condition that the two rabbit-like digimon weren't at all limited by because of their size). Suzie tripped and fell a couple of times but she took her falls with surprising dignity without breaking down into a crying fit. After a few minutes Jeri could see Rika making her way back to the picnic blanket, her face calm and eyes devoid of anger. Jeri composed herself neatly and placed her hands in her lap as she smiled(at least what she hoped looked like one) at her friend, and Rika gave a small, reassuring smile back. The red haired girl took a seat next to Jaarin, across from Jeri, and the girls returned to watching the Frisbee game. Jeri looked at Rika for a couple minutes before her gaze slid over to Takato as he snagged the flying disc out of the air and sent it carefully over in Suzie's direction, laughing as he did so.

_I have a lot to think about,_ thought Jeri.

* * *

5 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Song of the Setting Sun

Chapter: 7

Takato lay on the soft grass of Shinjuku Park, enjoying the heat of the sun as it beat down on his face. The Frisbee game ended about half an hour ago and now everyone was taking a break. Turning his head, Takato smiled at the sight of Henry and Rika as they played a game of Digimon, and judging from the furrowed look of concentration on Henry's face, Rika was winning. No surprise there, she _was_ after all, the Digimon Queen, second only to Ryo Akiyama who claimed to be the Digimon King, a title that Rika did not like to hear but given that Ryo was good enough to beat Rika at her game (and there had yet to be anyone else) Takato could at least say that the title was well earned, though he wouldn't say it out loud for fear of Rika getting upset. A soft smile played across his face as he turned back to the sky, watching clouds drifting among the azure background like balls of cotton. She was a strange one, Rika that is. There were times that she could get irritated at the strangest things, things so simple as a misspoken word, Ryo, or better yet, the subject of dresses. Fortunately that last one didn't come up often, and no one brought it up if they knew what was good for them, and most usually did. And then of course there was yesterday…

Takato frowned slightly as the memory came to him of hearing Rika singing. He honestly didn't know why she acted so… irritated? No, that wasn't the word. Annoyed maybe, possibly embarrassed, but by whatever description Rika wasn't happy about his hearing her song. Granted, he was sort of eavesdropping on her, but how was he to know that she was at the playground?

Takato let out a sigh. Sometimes he wondered why Rika was like that. True, she had opened up quite a bit during the past year, but there were times where she'd still be cold and indifferent towards her friends.

_I don't know why she wasn't happy about my hearing her song,_ thought Takato distractedly. _She has a nice voice… I'll bet the others would like to hear her too._

This thought brought to mind the memory of her birthday party, when Kazu had asked for Rika to get on stage and sing. Rika had just ignored Kazu and left the party, and he, Takato, had followed her to see if she was all right. Renamon had stopped him, leaving the girl alone with whatever it was that was on her mind. This had bothered him for a few days, since it was obviously something that bothered her, but as Rika hadn't made a big deal out of it or bring it up in conversation, Takato had gradually forgotten about it, wandering to the back of his mind where it only bothered him subconsciously.

Until yesterday.

He had thought a lot about it while he was walking home, that is, after he had gotten over the scare that Guilmon had given him over what he had said to Rika about her voice sounding nice (an embarrassing event that sounded strangely familiar to him though he couldn't recall why). Before he had gotten home, he recalled, he had wondered what would have happened if Renamon hadn't stopped him from approaching Rika, what she might have told him if she talked to him at all.

Takato guessed that he'd never know now. Rika wasn't the type to divulge secrets easily, not like he was at any rate. Once more Takato marveled at how different the two of them were…

Takato watched a cloud lazily drift by, partially blocking out the sun. It wouldn't last long as it was a rather small cloud, and it wasn't even a dark one either. The day was progressing well, even if it hadn't been going the way he had envisioned it to be but still, he was with his friends. Well, some of them anyway…

"Man, I wish Guilmon were here," Takato said quietly.

"Takato?"

Takato blinked, and looked up at Jeri who had been sitting next to him.

"Yeah? What's up Jeri?"

Jeri looked a little uncertain about something. She'd been like that since she went into the Sakura trees after Rika, but when he had asked her about it she said that she was fine. For some reason though, she was distant, and that made Takato worried. Jeri chewed her lower lip nervously.

"Um… do you… _miss_ Guilmon?"

Takato raised an eyebrow. That didn't sound like what she wanted to ask, but he answered anyway.

"Well, yeah. Sure I do," said Takato, his face becoming a little downcast as the image of his partner flitted across his minds eye. "I was just thinking that, you know, since we're hanging out with the others here, Guilmon could have been here having the time of his life."

_Poor guy,_ thought Takato sadly. _I told him that I wanted to hang out with Jeri today and… well, that didn't exactly happen the way I planned it. I'll bet he's bored out of his mind right now._

Jeri seemed to be thinking something over.

"If you want," Jeri said after a moment. "I can go get Guilmon for you."

"Huh?" Stammered Takato. "Uh… no, that's okay. I can get him…"

Jeri shook her head.

"No, it's… it's no trouble at all. It's been a while since I've seen Guilmon anyway…"

Takato tilted his head to one side as a look of confusion spread across his face.

"Oh. Okay… well, I can go with you."

Once again Jeri shook her head.

"I'd… I don't mean to sound rude or anything Takato, it's just… I need to be alone for a few minutes. I've got something on my mind and I'd like to think about it. Clear my head, you know?"

Takato felt some pain in his heart. Somehow… he didn't know how he knew this, but somehow he was sure that there was something bothering her. And for some reason he had a feeling that he was at the center of it all.

_What's going on here?_ Takato wondered.

Without waiting for Takato to answer, Jeri got up and began to wander off in the direction of Guilmon's shed. Collecting himself, Takato reached out a hand from his spot on the ground and called out to Jeri, a worried expression on his face.

"Jeri. Is everything alright?"

Jeri stopped, turned, and gave Takato a reassuring smile. Looking into the girl's eyes however, the goggle wearing boy could see that there was definitely something going on behind them that was distracting her.

"Jeri…" Takato whispered.

"I'll be back with Guilmon," Jeri promised, and with a small wave she turned and continued on her way through the park, leaving behind a very confused Takato.

Conflicting thoughts and feelings ran through the boys mind. A part of him told him to get his butt off the ground and go after her, but another part, the more nervous, unsure part of him, told him to hold back. Told him that whatever was on Jeri's mind, she would tell him when she was ready. Takato found himself hating that part of him, but he listened to it anyway, like he had so many other times before. Things just felt… so complicated right now that he didn't know which way to go.

So Takato just stayed where he was, sadly watching the girl he liked walk off.

_She'll be back though,_ thought Takato, holding onto that thin line of hope. _Maybe then she'll tell me what's going on.

* * *

_

Sitting on a tree branch, Renamon watched Jeri Katou as she made her way away from Takato with a concerned look before phasing out of view.

* * *

Terriermon had been watching the game progress back and forth between Rika and Henry with only mild excitement. Over the past year Henry had gradually gotten better at the game to the point where he could actually challenge Rika, but Henry, in his usually modest way, would just claim that it was because he had gotten used to Rika's card patterns to the point where he practically had them memorized. Of course, the same could be said for Rika, but then again even the strongest stone will wear down given enough time and sufficient exposure to the elements so Henry could hardly disregard the possibility that he had gotten better. But, as had been stated, he was modest, and so he would stick with his current take on things.

Terriermon stretched and yawned, earning him a slight frown from both Tamers, and a giggle from Jaarin and Suzie who were also watching nearby, but the long eared rabbit digimon didn't care. He had watched enough of these games to know that Rika had this one in the bag, as usual. One day though, she would lose to someone other than Ryo, and he hoped to be there to see it. Until then though, these games could get a little bit tedious.

With a bored expression on his face, Terriermon took a look around, and noticed Jeri walking off and leaving Takato behind.

"Now I wonder what's going on there…?" Murmured the long eared dog-bunny, which caused the children next to him to look at him with raised eyebrows.

"What's going on where?" Asked Jaarin, but a second later that question was answered by none other than Suzie Wong.

"Hey!" The little girl exclaimed as she tightened her grip on her partner, Lopmon, but not squeezing hard enough to cause discomfort, while at the same time pointing in a very specific direction. "Where's Jewi going?"

Rika, Henry, and Jaarin all followed Suzie's outstretched arm, and saw Takato sitting on the ground, watching Jeri as she walked off.

"A little trouble in paradise?" Asked Terriermon sarcastically, which only got one, highly predictable reaction out of a Tamer wearing an orange vest.

"Terriermon…"

"What? I'm just pointing out the obvious aren't I? I'm willing to bet that Takatomon embarrassed himself somehow and frightened Jeri away!"

"Terriermon, you really shouldn't make assumptions based only on what you've seen when you don't know the story behind it. For all we know Jeri had to be home at a certain time. What do you think, Rika? Rika?"

"Hm?' Rika turned to look back at Henry, blinking her eyes a couple times before looking back at Takato. With a sigh, Rika set her hand on the ground, got up, and began walking over to Takato, Henry and Terriermon watching her with raised eyebrows.

"I'll be right back," she muttered.

Once Rika had walked a safe distance away, Terriermon cocked an eyebrow and tapped his chin with one finger.

"Oookay… _that_ was weird."

"Terriermon…"

* * *

Takato was still sitting on the grass, staring vacantly off into space with a disturbed expression on his face, his so mind awhirl with confusion that he didn't even hear the red haired Tamer as she approached him. He still didn't even notice that she was there until she knelt down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, which finally brought him around. Blinking in surprise, Takato turned and, once he saw who it was, turned slightly red before looking away.

"Huh? Oh… hey."

"Hey yourself. So what's up?" Asked Rika with concern in her voice. "Everything all right between you two?"

Takato heaved a sigh. He considered just saying that everything was fine but… this was Rika, and somehow she always had a way of telling when he was lying. Of course, Takato wasn't a very good liar to begin with but that's besides the point. And he couldn't lie to one of his friends anyway.

"I don't know," said Takato sadly. "Jeri's been acting kind of weird lately. Since about the time that Henry and I were playing Frisbee, and… maybe even a little bit before that."

Rika's expression went from one of worry to relief.

_Sounds like Jeri just got a little too nervous and decided that she needed some alone time for a few minutes. No big deal…_

"It's like," Takato continued. "Jeri's really worried about something, and she doesn't want to tell me what it is. I mean, earlier, before she asked you to join us she seemed okay. A little nervous maybe, but she was happy. And then, after that… when…when we met up with Henry's family…" Takato swallowed. He wanted to say _after she followed you into the Sakura trees_, but he didn't know what kind of reaction that would get out of the girl next to him, so he decided to play it safe and put it in a similar time frame. "… She started acting different. Like she had something on her mind. Right before she left she told me that she was thinking about something but she said that she wanted to think about it on her own."

Takato's eyes became downcast while Rika processed this information. For some reason she was getting a bad feeling about what she had just heard, but with an effort she pushed it aside. Surely nothing could be wrong with Jeri.

Right?

"Cheer up, Gogglehead," said Rika as she forced a smile on her face and squeezed Takato's shoulder for added emphasis. "I'm sure that whatever's going on with her, she'll tell you, and then you can help her with it. The rest of us will be here for you guys in case you need us, okay?"

Takato gave a faint smile, impressed once more by just how much Rika had changed since their first meeting all those months ago.

"Thanks Rika."

"Don't mention it," said the red haired Tamer as she gave Takato's shoulder one last comforting squeeze before getting back up and returning to her game with Henry.

* * *

Terriermon and Jaarin had been watching this scene with more than a little curiousity while Henry had a concerned look on his face, wondering if everything was all right or if he should go over there and see what was up. Thinking about it he probably should have gone over there to begin with but Rika seemed to have everything under control right now and, from what he had seen from his perspective, had even managed to get a smile out of the goggle wearing Tamer, which made him relax a little, but only a little.

"Well," said Terriermon. "_That_ was interesting…"

Henry frowned at the little dog-bunny, but before he could give his classic _Terriermon _line, Rika sat down in front of her deck and picked up her hand. Henry looked at her face, trying to read her emotions for some clue as to Takato's emotional weather.

"Is everything okay?" He asked.

Rika sighed and closed her eyes, wondering just what was the best way to respond to that question.

* * *

Jeri walked through the park, her face set in concentration as she mulled things over in her mind, going over Rika's conversation with Renamon and wondering what it all meant in regards to Takato. Most of all, she thought about the dream that Rika mentioned.

_That's silly though,_ thought Jeri, trying to reassure herself. _Boys dream about girls all the time, so why should I be surprised if Takato had one about Rika? I mean she is a pretty girl…_

But for some reason, Jeri had the sneaking suspicion that what Rika had been talking about was something completely different from what she was thinking. That, and Takato would hardly be the type of person to go and tell a girl, and not just _any_ girl, Rika, that he had had a dream about them unless it was important. But what? She could ask either Rika or Takato, but right now she was too nervous to even face them about this, and she didn't want to admit to how she had found out about it either. At least not right away. Not until she felt surer of herself. And besides, Guilmon might know something about this little development. As Jeri headed down the path that would take her to Guilmon's home, a single word floated through her mind.

_Destiny…_

She hadn't thought about that word in a long time. Not since D-Reaper at least, and though she no longer viewed it with the same negativity that she had prior to her escape from the psychotic program she couldn't help but wonder if that word had some important meaning to all this, to this _dream_ that Takato had had. Of course, she could be wrong, but she had to know.

Finally, Jeri came to the stairs that would take her to Guilmon's dwelling. As she began to mount them, that same word played through her head again.

_Destiny…

* * *

_

7


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Song of the Setting Sun

Chapter: 8

Guilmon rolled over on the floor of his shed, a grunt escaping his mouth as he tried to find a comfortable position so that he could dream peaceful dreams that involved his most favorite thing in the world; that wonderful food called bread. Guilmon sighed as he looked at the entrance to his home. Guilmon was bored. His Tamer had gone off with Jeri without him for reasons that didn't exactly make much sense to him (he did get an idea of why Takato wanted to be alone with Jeri, though he didn't know why. The way Takato and Kazu had described it, it was some special kind of game between boys and girls that, for some reason, meant that they had to be alone, which Guilmon found kind of weird), and Kazu and Kenta had left following a brief talk that they had shared about what Guilmon and Takato had discovered about Rika yesterday. To be fair, Guilmon had been rather evasive about the subject since he didn't Rika or his Tamer angry at him, but Kazu, being who he is, promised Guilmon some bread if he coughed up what he knew. After much debating and more evasiveness on the reptile's part, Kazu had finally gotten Guilmon to spill the beans (with a hefty promise on the visor boys part involving quite a bit of _Guilmon Bread_ in exchange). Guilmon had been happy for a while after that, but now he was just bored. And a little bit worried about what Kazu might do with the information but…

_Why should Rika or Takato be mad? It's not like Rika said not to tell anyone in the first place and besides, Rika has a nice sounding voice._

But still, that feint feeling of worry lay in his digital heart, but was mostly suppressed by that overwhelming sense of boredom. Guilmon felt like howling at the sky he was so bored! Calumon hadn't been around since yesterday to see what he was up to, and Impmon was probably off doing something with his Tamers, and everyone else was buys! Besides, Takato didn't like it when he went out on his own. True, the general populace of Shinjuku had gotten used to the presence of digimon in the area, but Takato still worried about how people would react to digimon, as they were now far passed the days where people would buy his _guy in a suit_ act.

Humans could be so silly sometimes.

Once again Guilmon rolled over, this time on his back, the entrance to his home now flipped upside down, causing some slight amusement for the young, red dinosaur, but it didn't offer any relief from his boredom. Breathing deep, Guilmon was about to heave another sigh when he caught the scent of someone familiar approaching. Guilmon sat up and sniffed the air carefully.

_Jeri?_

There were definitely footsteps approaching his home, and the smell he was picking up was a fresh one. But why was Jeri coming here? Not that he wasn't happy at the possibility of seeing Jeri, but it was a little bit odd since she was supposed to be with Takato today (at least that's what Takato said), and he didn't smell Takato's scent at all. Did something happen? Guilmon hadn't sensed a digimon breach the barriers between the real world and the digital world, but that didn't mean that Takato couldn't have gotten hurt. Getting to his feet, Guilmon sauntered over to the gate of his home and peered past the bars, smiling as soon as his eyes lighted on the approaching figure of Jeri Katou.

"Hiii," greeted Guilmon with a goofy expression, waving one claw in the air as Jeri mounted the stairs, though he felt a little worried. Jeri had an introspective look on her face as if she was thinking hard about something and wasn't sure if she wanted to think about it.

_Oh boy,_ thought Guilmon. _Something happened to Takato, I know it. Why do these things keep happening?_

Jeri raised her head and smiled at Guilmon, but the smile did not touch her eyes.

"Hey Guilmon," said Jeri as she stopped in front of the gates of Guilmon's home. "How's it going?"

"Boring," said Guilmon, always honest about how he was feeling at any given moment. "Are you having fun on your date with Takato?"

Jeri's eyes widened slightly in surprise, her face turning a little red before she looked down at the ground with a look that was either shame or worry. Guilmon couldn't tell the difference, and he cocked his head to one side.

"Did I say something wrong?" Asked Guilmon.

Jeri looked up, the color in her face having receded somewhat and she forced a smile.

"Um… no! No, you didn't say anything wrong. It's just… um… we ran into Rika and Henry down at the Sakura trees and Takato figured that since we were going to hang out with them for a while that you might like to come down and be with us."

Guilmon blinked.

"So… why isn't Takatomon with you?" Enquired the red dino. "Doesn't he want to see me?"

Guilmon felt a little saddened at this prospect. He didn't believe for a second that Takato would stop being his friend, but he had to admit that this was odd behavior for his Tamer to not come and get him when he wanted to be with him.

Jeri shook her head.

"No, it's not that. It's just that I… uh… had some _questions_ to ask you before we got there. You don't mind do you?"

Once again, Guilmon tilted his head to the side and blinked.

"Ah… 'kay. What do you want to know?"

Jeri looked at the ground nervously as she considered the best way to ask what she had on her mind.

* * *

Nearby, Renamon phased into existence on a tree branch, giving her a clear view of young Katou, and was close enough where she could listen to Jeri's conversation with Guilmon and not be noticed. That is, unless Guilmon's nose picked her out. The possibility was there despite even Renamon's abilities, but Renamon wasn't at all worried about it. Leaning forward, Renamon listened closely to the pair's conversation.

* * *

"Guilmon?" Asked Jeri tentatively. "Did… did Takato ever say anything to you about a _dream_ that he had about Rika?"

Jeri waited for Guilmon to answer, kicking herself mentally over how that had sounded. It seemed so ridiculous to her that she must have come off sounding like a jealous girl! But a question came to mind though. What did she feel about all this?

Guilmon, apparently didn't think about how Jeri must have sounded as he looked up at the ceiling of his home, lost in thought as he tapped one claw on his chin.

"Mmmm… yeah… I do remember something about a dream. We were looking for Calumon one day, around the same time that I had a bad experience in the tunnel, and we ran into Rika and Renamon. They were looking for a fight because Rika thought that we were following her, but Takato told her that he just wanted to learn more about digimon. I remember how Rika took us down to her house and Takato told her that he saw her in a dream before we first met them." Guilmon laughed childishly as he remembered that day. "Renamon sure kicked me hard the first time we fought. I flattened a fence! Whee-hee!"

Up in her hiding place, Renamon chuckled lightly at Guilmon's rather surprising glee over that memory. It wasn't something that she herself was very proud of as she didn't look back on those days fondly, but she had long come to terms with her actions and Rika's. The kitsune was glad to know that Guilmon didn't hold a grudge, but then she'd be surprised if he ever did.

Jeri just looked at Guilmon strangely. She had, of course, heard about how Rika had attacked Guilmon when she and Renamon first met Takato and Guilmon, but she found it kind of odd that the crimson reptile would treat the matter so lightly, as if it were no big deal at all. Well, given that Renamon didn't delete him, and that they had become friends, if not colleagues, afterwards, she could sort of see how there was little to be mad about. Besides, Guilmon always had a fairly easy-going personality.

"Anyway," continued the red raptor. "Rika didn't like the idea of Takato seeing her in a dream, and after we left she told him that if he ever mentioned it again she'd…" Guilmon paused as he tried to remember just what it was that Rika had told Takato that day. "… She'd _send him to dreamland for good_!"

Jeri had to chuckle at that. That certainly sounded like Rika.

"Hey," asked Guilmon. "How did you find out about that dream? Did Takato tell you or something? Did Rika send him to dreamland?"

Jeri laughed at that, but she soon sobered up a little and patted Guilmon on the head, maintaining a smile on her face as she considered what Guilmon had told her.

"No, silly," said Jeri. "I just overheard Rika and Renamon talking about it and I wondered if you knew anything."

Guilmon tilted his head to one side again.

"So why didn't you ask them?"

_Good question,_ thought Renamon from her vantage point in the trees, though to be honest she could see why Jeri chose not to confront Rika head on about this. It wasn't something that could be easily talked about. There were times where Renamon did wonder about this dream that the boy had had, but she knew that talking about it with the boy wouldn't yield any answers as, chances were, Takato wouldn't know what the dream meant either. For all the vulpine digimon knew it was just to awaken his destiny or something.

But why Rika though?

For the first time, Renamon wondered if Takato had any dreams about Henry or Ryo before he first met them. Something that might be worth asking at some point.

"It's… it's complicated," said Jeri, in answer to Guilmon's question. "There are some things that I'm unsure about and I wanted to see what you knew about it."

"You're welcome I guess," said Guilmon feeling slightly confused. "I've never really thought too much about it, although once I wondered if Rika was a dream in the way that I was when Takato created me. But that's just a silly thought, huh?"

Jeri smiled.

"Yes. Very silly."

Guilmon laughed and pranced his feet around on the ground excitedly.

"So do I get to go see Takatomon now? Oh please, oh please, oh please, with sugar on top…"

Jeri giggled, and she opened up the cage door to Guilmon's home.

"Of course."

Guilmon trotted out of his stone hut, and Jeri put a hand on his back, stopping him.

"Just one last question. Did Takato say anything else to Rika about that dream he had?"

Guilmon thought back to that day.

"Mmmm… no, I don't think so… wait! Takato teased her about being his _dream girl_ right before we left. Sometimes I'm surprised that she let him get away with that, but I'm not going to complain. I still get bread after all."

Jeri kept her smile on. Her questions weren't really answered at all, but at least now she had something to go on. Maybe she should consider asking Takato about this first before approaching Rika, if she did at all. It really depended on what Takato had to say and if he'd tell her anything. She hoped that he would though despite Rika's threat. It was _his_ dream after all, and only he could really give her the answers that she needed about it, though why she considered it important was beyond her. Maybe she should just let it lie. Takato and Rika seemed content enough to let it be themselves… that is, if they ever did talk about it since then.

Jeri was about to head down the stairs with Guilmon when suddenly the raptor straightened and sniffed the air a couple times.

"I smell Renamon," he said, and a second later, the vulpine digimon appeared right in front of him, much to the dinosaurs delight.

"Hi, Renamon," said Guilmon happily. "Are you here to ask me to go to the Cherry blossoms too?"

Renamon kept her face expressionless. She hadn't been expecting that, but then she guessed that she should have anyway. Guilmon was known for making the strangest comments clear out of the blue. Yesterday, at the park with Rika was just another example of that peculiar trait of his.

"Sorry," said Renamon carefully, not wanting to hurt the reptile's feelings. "But actually I came here to talk to Jeri."

Renamon emphasized this by turning her head in the young girl's direction, and Jeri looked back uneasily.

Guilmon, not put out by Renamon's answer, simply laughed for what had to be the hundredth time that day.

"Okay."

Renamon waited a second, but Guilmon didn't move.

"Alone," said the kitsune. Guilmon, finally getting the message looked over at Jeri, wondering if everything was all right. Jeri alleviated his worries by nodding.

_I guess that we might as well talk now that she's here,_ thought Jeri.

"It's all right Guilmon. Can you find your way to Takato?"

"Yeah!" Exclaimed the dinosaur happily and rushed off, pausing only for a second to raise a claw at the two.

"Renamon! Jeri! Bye-bye!"

And with that, Guilmon resumed his journey. Renamon chuckled before turning her attention to Jeri, who was currently trying to meet Renamon's gaze but was failing.

"I'm sorry that I overheard your conversation with Rika," said Jeri, not wanting to deny it as she had an idea as to what Renamon had wanted to talk about. "I didn't mean to, it's just… I only wanted to know what Rika was so upset about and…"

Renamon approached Jeri and laid a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder.

"It's all right, Jeri. I know that you didn't mean any harm by it, and if Rika had realized you were there I'm sure she would say the same thing. Or at least think it." This last was meant to be a kind of joke, but Jeri wasn't in much of a laughing mood.

"You didn't tell Rika?"

"She has enough on her mind right now. I didn't want to alert her to the fact that you overheard us talking. She wouldn't have responded well."

Jeri sighed, feeling slightly relieved by this knowledge.

"What does Rika think?" Asked Jeri suddenly. Renamon blinked.

"About Takato? Or his dream?"

"Either. Both. I don't know."

Renamon nodded.

"I think that right now, Rika is uncertain as to her feelings about Takato. It is not often that she deals with the sort of emotions that surround concepts like love, but she does know one thing: Takato likes you and you like Takato. Rika would not want to stand between you two if you decided to take a step beyond friendship."

Jeri nodded, feeling a little foolish for having any thoughts that might have said otherwise. If nothing else, Rika was a true friend, and she wouldn't want to hurt those that she considered her friends. Well, maybe with the exception of Kazu, but certainly none of the others, and that included Ryo, however much she said otherwise.

But there was still the matter of the dream that bothered Jeri a little.

"But, what about that dream that Takato had?"

"What about it?" Asked Renamon simply, not sure what Jeri was getting at.

"Do you… do you ever wonder about it? About what it means? About what it might mean for them?"

Renamon sighed.

"I have sometimes wondered about it. The day Rika and I first met Takato and Guilmon, one of the first things that Takato had said to Rika was that he had dreamt her. He was quite surprised to see her, and had nearly doubted the validity of her being the same person. Afterwards, when he had discussed it with her later under more _diplomatic _circumstances, he had confessed confusion over what it meant, but neither of them went into it much besides Rika deriding Takato for it. As far as I know, they had never discussed it since."

Jeri swallowed.

"Do you ever wonder if that means that… destiny…?"

Jeri didn't finish her sentence, but Renamon understood what she was getting at.

"Jeri," said the vulpine digimon. "You of all people should know that we can choose our own destiny. Nothing can change that. Not even something as simple as a dream."

Jeri nodded, feeling a little bit better now. She had come to believe that she and everyone else could choose their own destiny after her imprisonment by D-Reaper. She had learned to accept the decisions that others made that affected how their destiny came into play, and the outcomes of said decisions. It wasn't always good, or pretty, but that's how life was sometimes. But she still wondered… what did that dream mean? What did Takato think of it? What did Rika? And what was more, what did it mean for them in the future? Maybe it was silly, thinking about it like that. About as silly as Takato calling Rika his _dream girl_ like Guilmon had said. One dream did not necessarily mean that they were destined to be together (as Jeri had once told Leomon when she had chased him through the park after he arrived in the real world).

Even so, Jeri knew that she wasn't done thinking about this, but for now she felt a little better having talked to Renamon.

"Thank you, Renamon," said Jeri. "You're a true friend. And I'm sorry again for eavesdropping on you and Rika the way I did."

Renamon tilted one of her ears to the side.

"It's all right, Jeri. You were just concerned. Now come on. I believe that we should return to the others before we are missed."

Jeri smiled, and nodded at the yellow furred kitsune.

* * *

7 


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Song of the Setting Sun

Chapter: 9

"So what do you think?" Asked Kenta, looking over at his visor-wearing companion, who currently had his hands behind his head with a thoughtful, and humorous, expression on his face while they walked down the path. Kazu broke off from his train of thought and looked at his friend with a curious look.

"Think about what?"

Kenta sighed and pushed up his glasses with a finger.

"You know. About what Guilmon told us earlier."

"What about it?"

Kenta blinked. He certainly hadn't been expecting Kazu to say _that_. At the very least he had thought that Kazu would be making jokes at Rika's expense about being caught _singing_ by Takato, and then blushing at Guilmon's compliment on her voice.

"I don't know. I just thought that… you might have something to say about it. That's all. I mean, you usually do about this sort of thing, especially considering how you normally make fun of Takato over his crush on Jeri."

Kazu just shrugged his shoulders.

"Eh. I don't know. Takato at least is easy to make fun of over how he feels for Jeri, and he doesn't have the habit of hitting you when you annoy him too much.

"Um… Kazu? Are you feeling okay? It's not like you to hear something like this without making at least one joke about it, or even just one comment."

"He's right you know," said Guardromon from behind Kazu. "Normally you'd go out of your way to make fun of Ms. Rika behind her back, and anyone else for that matter."

"Yeah well… I don't know. I guess I just find it a little weird hearing that Guilmon made Rika blush. It's not like that's the sort of thing that happens everyday you know, so I'm not sure how to take it. I'm still letting the information sink in."

"Well, I can't argue with you there," said Kenta, nodding. "But I wonder what Takato thinks of it."

"We can ask him after he's done with his date with Jeri. I wonder how that's going by the way. I'll bet he's probably embarrassing himself like there's no tomorrow. He's one strange banana."

Kenta scratched his face and considered what Kazu said.

"But… if we're going to ask Takato _after_ his date with Jeri, then what are we doing here?"

"Huh?"

Kenta took a moment to point out the Sakura trees around them. Kazu snorted.

"Don't look at me, dude. I was just following you."

Kenta shook his head.

"But that can't be. I was following you."

"And I was following you both," said Guardromon. Kazu sweatdropped.

"Great… here I am stuck with dumb and clueless. I must have done something wrong in a previous life to deserve this kind of grief…"

While Kazu continued with his complaint, Kenta took a moment to look around, noting the various couples, families, and business groups that were out and about enjoying the day and the Sakura trees as their pink petals bloomed. It was nice to see so many happy people in spite of the fact that digital creatures attacked the city at regular intervals. Of course, Guardromon's presence in the area drew more than a few eyes, but for the most part no one seemed to pay him or the two children that were with him any mind. Maybe it said something that the general populace was getting used to the idea that there were digimon among them, and that children were at times partnered with them. If so, Kenta could afford to relax a little when it came to worrying about how people could react. But then, MarineAngemon was small enough (and harmless looking enough) that few people took any notice of him. Besides, his little buddy certainly drew a lot of attention from the girls in his class, even though the amount of attention that he himself had garnered because of his partner could worry him sometimes.

Kenta paused as he spied something through the Sakura trees, and his sudden halt brought his two traveling companions up short, both of them looking at him questioningly while MarineAngemon poked his head out of Kenta's over shirt and did likewise.

"Puh?" Enquired the pink, fairy Mega.

"Yeah, what he said," spoke Kazu.

"Kazu, sir? You don't even know what he said…"

Kazu scowled at his partner.

"Mmmnnn… hey, c'mon!" Kazu then turned back to Kenta.

"All right, chumley, what's the deal here? Aren't we supposed to be going somewhere?"

Well, actually, Kazu didn't even know _where_ it was that they were going, except that they were basically being propelled by their feet. Wherever it was Kazu didn't really even care, just so long as it was somewhere _other_ than here. Not that he minded the Sakura trees; he just didn't want to be there today.

Kenta on the other hand, wasn't really paying attention to Kazu. He had spotted what looked like a familiar digimon in the sea of people sitting on picnic blankets in the area of the Sakura trees.

"Is that… _Terriermon?_" Asked Kenta out loud, causing Kazu to follow his gaze. Shortly afterwards, a grin broke out on the visor-wearing boys face and he immediately set off in the direction that Kenta was looking at. Kenta snapped out of his daze and blinked.

"Uh… Kazu? What are you doing?"

Kazu turned back, never losing his grin.

"Going to go see Terriermon and Henry. And from what I can see, it looks like Rika's there also, unless that is there's someone else around who has red hair like she does." Kazu's grin suddenly widened and he chuckled. "Man, I never thought that Henry had it in him."

Kenta, MarineAngemon, and Guardromon all exchanged nervous glances before deciding to follow the boy through the crowd of people, not at all sure what it was that Kazu was talking about. As the party approached, Kazu continued to study the group of people that they were walking towards. It looked like most of Henry's family was there. There was Suzie, Henry's older sister and mother. The father and brother were missing in action but that was probably explainable, and then there was Rika and… _hold on_.

Kazu's face set itself into a frown. Takato was there also, sitting across from Rika, partially obscured by the girls form. And it looked like they were engaged in a game of Digimon. The only thing was… Jeri wasn't there at all.

_What the heck is going on here?_ Wondered Kazu as he processed what he saw.

Well, he'd figure it out once he got there.

* * *

Takato was in trouble. Rika had just activated a control spire card, preventing his Agumon card from digivolving in order to combat her Kyubimon. In another turn she'd be able to digivolve to Ultimate and clean him out, and none of the cards that he currently had were going to stop her. 

_Man, Henry might have figured out a way to get out of this,_ thought Takato as he stared at his hand, almost hoping that there was a card in there that he had missed when he took an earlier look at it. Too bad that that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

_Oh man… I'm sunk…_

And then, as if things couldn't get any worse, or maybe better depending on how you look at it, a familiar voice hailed him.

"HEY! CHUMLEY! FANCY SEEING YOU HERE!"

Rika _hmmphed_ and rolled her eyes.

"Kazu…" the girl growled disdainfully, not bothering to hide her annoyance at the visor-wearing youth that was now approaching them.

_As if it was bad enough having to sit through Gogglehead's date with Jeri like some kind of fifth wheel, now I've got to deal with this annoying excuse of a Tamer._

Kazu, Kenta, MarineAngemon, and Guardromon came to a halt in front of the other Tamers and the Wong family and sat down.

"Um… hey there… Kazu," said Takato a little uneasily. He was wondering what he and Kenta were doing here. Hanami wasn't exactly the kind of thing that these two usually went to unless they were with their families, and after taking a quick look around he didn't see either of their parents around. Of course, that didn't necessarily mean anything but he could have sworn that Kazu said that his parents had no interest in showing up until later on in the evening, and Kenta had said that his folks hadn't made any plans until later in the week so naturally Takato's curiosity was roused. "What're you doing here?"

Kazu pointed to his companion, Kenta.

"I was following this guy, but it also turned out that he was following me, so we wound up coming here somehow."

"Typical," said Rika. "You guys could probably get lost even if you had a map."

Terriermon giggled as he climbed up onto Henry's head. "That's because Kazu would keep holding it upside down."

"Terriermon…" began Henry warningly, but Kazu just waved the little digimon off.

"Eh. I won't deny it. After all, it's probably true…"

"No _probably_ about it," muttered Rika but Kazu ignored her to.

"Anyway, Kenta saw you guys here so we figured that we might come on over and see what you were up to. So now that we're here, what's going on?"

"Just me pounding Gogglehead here into the dirt," said Rika with a small smirk as she looked at Takato. Kazu grinned.

"Well, it's not like that's very hard to do," said Kazu. "I mean, outside of being a Tamer he stinks when it comes to cards."

Rika snorted. "Like _you_ could do better?"

Kazu blinked, but before he could make a response to that, Kenta spoke up.

"So Takato. Where's Jeri? Weren't you supposed to be with her today?"

Takato's face became crestfallen and Kazu's attention suddenly shifted from Rika's insult to Takato. He wondered what had happened when they hadn't been around. All of a sudden he wished that he and Kenta did trail after Takato when he had suggested it to Kenta.

"She went to go get Guilmon," said Takato after a brief second, trying to sound cheerful, but it was clear that there was something bothering him. Kazu noticed Rika look up from her hand and her face softened at the boy.

_Something's up,_ thought Kazu.

"Is everything okay between you two?" Asked Kazu. Takato blinked.

"Um…" Takato wasn't sure how to respond to that. On one hand he didn't want his friends to worry, especially since they might blab his feelings when they next saw Jeri and he wasn't sure if he wanted that. On the other hand however, it might be best to tell them about his worries. Rika had been there for him earlier, but then she wasn't the type to go and tell everyone what was on his mind if it was personal to him. Well, maybe he would tell them later, when they weren't in so public a setting.

But Takato had taken too long to answer the question and Rika stepped in for him.

"Of course they're fine," said Rika, not looking up from her cards. "Why wouldn't they be?"

"Hey, I'm just wondering because chumley here seemed out of it for some reason when Kenta asked about Jeri."

"Hmmph. Jeri's just being a little nervous around Gogglehead, that's all."

"And how would you know that?" Asked Kazu. Rika just glared at Kazu, her face not giving anything away, but Terriermon did that for her.

"She was with Jeri and Takatomon earlier," giggled the long eared digimon. "From what I understand she was operating as a _consultant _for Jeri while they were on their _date_!"

Rika growled at the dog-bunny. With a sigh, Henry reached up and rapped his partner on the head with his knuckles.

"Terriermon… how many times do I have to explain the word _tact_ to you until you finally understand what it means?"

"Face it Henry," laughed Jaarin. "It's a lost cause on him."

"I'm beginning to think so myself," muttered Henry as he pulled his partner off his head and set him down within easy reach of Suzie, who just smiled at Terriermon. Lopmon just looked at Terriermon apologetically before giving the same look to Rika.

Meanwhile, Kazu had taken a moment to let Terriermon's explanation sink in before he burst out laughing. Kenta, noticing Rika glaring at his friend, tactfully moved a few inches away from Kazu, feeling safer being closer to Takato.

"Oh yeah," said Kazu as he calmed down a little, elbowing his mechanical partner behind him. "That's rich! Can you imagine that? Rika giving Jeri advise about _dating_? Man, what would Rika know about that kind of stuff, anyhow?"

Kenta had been looking back and forth between Kazu and Rika, noting Rika's twitching eyebrow, flushed face… she was close to exploding. He had seen her like this once before, though he hadn't been paying too much attention at the time to notice the warning signs. It was around the time that they had been stuck in that weird clock place in the clouds back in the digital world. Looks like they were going to have another repeat of that day. Even Henry was starting to look a little annoyed at Kazu's outburst.

"Kazu!" Exclaimed Takato suddenly, surprising everyone. Turning to look at him, Kenta could see that his friend looked a little angry, or rather frustrated, like that time back in the park when Kazu and Kenta had told their class about Guilmon and then the snake Deva, Sandiramon showed up. The other kids had wanted to see the fight, but Takato had told them firmly, in a tone that left no room for backtalk, that that wasn't going to happen. It was the same tone that Takato was using now, only harder.

Kazu blinked at his friend before looking around him. Kazu forced a chuckle as he felt his face heat up several degrees.

"Um… kind of went overboard there, huh?"

"Just a _little_?" Asked Terriermon sarcastically. Kazu just frowned but didn't say anything in response to that. Rika glared at the boy, but decided to shrug it off, so as to not disturb the tranquility of the Sakura trees.

"Whatever," said Rika nonchalantly as she returned to her hand, pausing briefly to look at Takato, her eyes thoughtful. Kenta caught this and wondered briefly about it before shrugging his shoulders.

* * *

Takato breathed shakily as the tension subsided. He hated it when he got angry. Hated it a lot more after what had happened in the digital world when he forced Guilmon to become Megidramon, but he just couldn't sit there while Rika had to deal with Kazu had a laugh at her expense. Granted, he had done so in the past, but it usually was in good spirits, even if Rika had the tendency to react explode on Kazu because of it. It was just… Kazu claiming that Rika didn't know anything about love that got him riled up. He hadn't been there at the playground or on Locomon when Rika had sung her song. Takato didn't know why, but there was something about the way she sung that told him that she understood clearly what love was. That, and Rika's last painful cry to her partner when, shortly after they had defeated D-Reaper, Renamon and the others had been pulled back into the digital world. In a lot of ways, those moments revealed something about the red haired Tamer that she normally wouldn't show to anyone else, and in some way, they had touched Takato. 

_Why can't Kazu see that in Rika? _Takato wondered sadly.

* * *

Jaarin watched Takato carefully, a little surprised by the boy's outburst. On the few occasions that she had met Takato, the boy had always come across as being very laid back and relaxed, if not a little nervous and shy at times, but she guessed that was to be expected from a kid like him. She hadn't really believed Suzie when she had once referred to him as _the angwy kid_, but now she could see where Suzie could have drawn that distinction. But then, anyone could get their dander up when a fire was set off near them. Perhaps it was better that Takato was the one who had gotten angry anyway. From what Jaarin had heard, Rika could be quite the terror when angry.

* * *

It was around that time that Terriermon spotted a familiar red dinosaur racing its way through the crowds of people, heading in their direction. 

"Heyyy!" Exclaimed the long eared bunny, grateful for anything that would distract them all from Kazu's scene. "Guilmon's here!"

Takato suddenly brightened up, a smile appearing on his face where before there was none and, Terriermon noted, one appeared on Rika's as well. But as Takato stood up, Terriermon noted something was wrong with this picture, and Kenta, observant as ever, quickly pointed it out.

"Hey. Where's Jeri?"

Takato's face searched the crowd, looking for Jeri's familiar face, but not finding it. Kazu thought about making some crack about Jeri dumping Takato but decided against it. He didn't want his friend thinking that, and he didn't want to come across as insensitive either, despite what happened earlier.

"Perhaps Jeri is in some sort of danger," said Guardromon

Rika frowned as she thought about that, but discarded it after a moment. Guilmon didn't look like he was in any particular hurry to get here. Well, he was, but not in the _Jeri's in trouble _kind of way. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the puppet-loving girl. Jeri never struck her as the type to just up and abandon a friend so what was going on here?

_Renamon?_ Called out Rika through the mental rapport she shared with her vulpine partner, and surprisingly she got an answer far quicker than she had thought she would, and not in the way that she had expected.

"Yes Rika?" Asked Renamon as she materialized next to the red headed Tamer, with Jeri in her arms, startling the girl with her mode of entrance for the first time since their partnership began, while a look of relief appeared on Takato's face.

"Jeri!" Exclaimed Takato happily. "I'm glad you're back!"

"Me too," said Kazu sarcastically, completely forgetting about what happened earlier. "For a second there I was afraid that Takato was going out with Rika today."

"Say wha…?" Began Takato in stunned surprise as a light red tinge appeared on his face. Across from him, Rika's eyes widened in surprise slightly, looking first at Jeri before jerking away and turning into a dagger like glare at Kazu.

_Boy, if looks could kill_, thought Terriermon sarcastically. Next to him, Suzie looked on, trying to figure out what was going on here. Too young to understand the joke that Kazu had made, or even the reasons behind Rika was looking so angry at Kazu Suzie spoke, as though from the proverbial mouth of babes.

"I don't undewstand," said the young Tamer. "Does Angwy kid like Wika as well as Jewi?"

Takato whirled around in surprise, and Terriermon suddenly choked on air, earning him a concerned look from Suzie while Takato stammered and stuttered.

"Um… ah… I… I don't… that is…I do… I…I… uh…"

Takato's shoulders slumped as his brain froze and face flushed a deep red. Everyone except Rika was now looking at him strangely.

_Oh man… someone please say something. Anything…_

Lopmon, suddenly seeing that something had to be done for young Takato, leapt out of Suzie's arms and climbed up onto the boys head.

"Momentai," Lopmon announced, as though the word were the answer to every problem in the universe.

"Hey! That's my line!" Exclaimed Terriermon indignantly.

"Yeah, chumley," said Kazu as he wrapped one arm around Takato's shoulder. "Momentai!"

Takato raised an eyebrow at the boy, his face only becoming a deeper red as Kazu, Kenta, Henry, and even Jeri laughed a little at the awkward scene. Takato let out one long sigh before suddenly getting tackled by the onrushing form of Guilmon, the red raptor bringing not only Takato, but also Kazu and Lopmon down underneath his weight as he crashed into them.

"TAKATO! HEY!!" Cried out Guilmon gleefully, and the poor goggle wearing boy cried out in surprise as the air was suddenly cut off from his lungs. Kazu and Lopmon both echoed Takato as they all went down in one big heap. Before anyone knew it, Guilmon's tongue was out and went into licking mode, not caring whether or not it was Takato or Kazu that got in the way of his affection.

"AAH!" Cried out Takato. "GUILMON!!"

"ACK! TAKATO!" Exclaimed Kazu. "DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR PARTNER! HE'S SLOBBERING ALL OVER ME! GUARDROMON! A LITTLE HELP HERE?!"

"At your service, Kazu!"

"LOPMON!" Called out Suzie as she ran in to join the dog pile in an attempt to rescue her partner.

* * *

Jeri smiled a little as she went in to help get Guilmon off of Takato and the others, but for some reason her heart remained troubled. Looking over at Rika, she saw that the other girl had a slightly sad look on her face as she looked over her cards, her cheeks slightly red looking, and her gaze not even focused on Takato's plight, or even meeting Jeri's face. Jeri began to wonder as to how Rika felt right now. 

_Rika…_ the young girl thought as her face softened.

* * *

9 


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Song of the Setting Sun

Chapter: 10

Mayumi Wong watched the children with a small smile on her face. The picnic wasn't going _exactly_ as she had planned, given that Janyu had to do some last minute work at Hypnos, Rinchei had taken off to be with some friends for a little while, and now, most of Henry's friends had dropped in on them with their digimon partners. Not that she wasn't happy to see Henry with his friends, or seeing a group of happy children for that matter, it was just that she had hoped that today would be more of a family outing. Mayumi shrugged mentally, not really caring about the course that events had taken so far. There was happiness in the air, and that was all that mattered.

A hand laid itself softly on Mayumi's shoulder, and turning the woman's smile widened as she saw her husband, Janyu behind her as he carefully sat down next to her.

"You're late," joked Mayumi, not losing her smile.

"Sorry," said Janyu. "But Yamaki insisted on my going over some data…"

"Can we talk about something _other_ than what goes on at Hypnos today?" Asked Mayumi, a little more sharply than she had intended, but if her husband was hurt at all by it he did a good job at hiding it. With a smile of his own, Janyu nodded and looked at the children.

"So I see that Henry's friends arrived."

Mayumi nodded.

"Yes. They've been trickling in bit by bit. Takato, Rika, and Jeri showed up a couple hours ago, and Kazu and Kenta arrived a while after that."

Janyu's smile widened as he took in each of the children and their digimon. Kazu and Kenta were locked in a Digimon card battle in a tag team battle against Henry and Takato, Guardromon making comments over Kazu's shoulder about the cards that he had in his hand, earning him more than a few complaints from his visor-wearing partner. Suzie was currently playing what looked like a game of tag with Terriermon, Lopmon, Guilmon, and Jeri while Rika was currently off being aloof, leaning up against a Sakura tree, eyes closed and brow furrowed in concentration, as though she were listening to an another voice that only she could hear.

It was times like these, seeing the children so happy in the company of each other and their digimon, that gladdened Janyu's heart, and at the same time reminded him of when he had to send the digimon back to the digital world shortly after their triumph over the mutated program called D-Reaper. Of course, the children had been able to get their partners back, and Henry had long since forgiven him for his actions that day, but it was still something that pained him every now and then. The look on their faces when he had told them what was happening…

Such shock and sadness should never have a place on a child's face.

Reaching into the Wong's picnic basket and pulled out a drink. Opening it he raised it in the direction of the Tamers, as though he were toasting to their continued happiness, wishing them the best of luck in the future before raising the drink to his lips.

* * *

Rika had her eyes closed off to the world around her, her mind focusing on nothing and everything at the same time, trying to get a bead on a feeling that's been bugging her since she joined Takato and Jeri today, while at the same time, avoiding it outright, as she was unsure what it was, or maybe she did know and she was just afraid of what it meant. She had felt a growing sense of disappointment and discomfort all day so far, most of it directed at Jeri and Takato, which didn't make sense to her. Why should she feel that way towards two of her best friends? Well, okay. Sure, she didn't like being dragged to go see the Cherry blossoms with them, especially since it was supposed to be a time just for those two. That, and the whole thing kept bringing Rika back to that time around a month ago when Takato had asked her to go see the Sakura trees with him. 

Rika opened her amethyst eyes and rested them upon the goggle-wearing boy as he took a card from his hand and placed it on the ground, a triumphant smile on his face as he did so. Rika thought back to earlier when Suzie had asked that bizarre question of hers to Takato, about whether or not the boy had liked her the way he did Jeri, and he had gotten all flustered, not wanting to insult Rika, but at the same time not wanting to imply that he thought about her in that way. Which was fine by her she guessed. She rather preferred having Takato as only a friend, but as she took in the situation, she couldn't help but take in a kind of irony that, after a fashion, they did get to go see the Cherry blossoms together after all, and she had Jeri to thank for that however unintentional it was on her part.

Suzie's question, and Takato's reaction did have a startling affect on her though, one that confused her to no end. The disappointment that she had felt earlier when she saw Takato and Jeri together walking through the Sakura trees, a faint reminder of Takato's long forgotten proposal, had come back, this time with a vengeance, and her face…

It was not often that Rika found herself blushing or feeling any such emotions that led to that sort of reaction (unless she was superbly angry), and she hated the fact that it was Takato, of all people, who had brought it out of her. And it wasn't the first time either.

_The letter to my family, my t-shirt, asking me to go see the Sakura trees with him on my birthday, and today with the ice cream and Suzie's asking him how he felt about me… just what is it that goes through that Goggleheaded brain of his? He's a walking disaster!_

Looking down at the full heart on her t-shirt, Rika had to ask herself, what was it that she felt for Takato? What was it that was making her feel this way around him?

For some reason Rika felt as though the heart on her shirt was mocking her. Rika frowned.

_This is so stupid…_

"_Problems Rika?"_ Asked the soft, almost amused tone of the kitsune digimon known as Renamon.

_No more than the usual,_ replied Rika._ Hey, I never got around to asking you why you showed up with Jeri instead of Jeri showing up with Guilmon. She gave Gogglehead quite a scare earlier._

"_Jeri had some questions that she wanted to ask me concerning Takato in private, so she sent Guilmon on ahead. She voiced some worries but I don't believe that they were anything too important."_

Rika pondered this for a moment.

_Not to sound insulting or anything, but why did Jeri ask you about Takato? Since when did you become an expert on him?_

Rika could feel dry amusement slipping through their link. Rika could almost swear that she heard her partner chuckle.

_"Sometimes it takes a different perspective to really get an answer to ones question."_

_Hmmph. I still don't understand. She's known Gogglehead longer than you or I have. You'd think that she'd have gone to Kenta or Kazu first._

_"Perhaps. But perhaps she trusts yours and my opinions more."_

_Hmmm… say, what did she ask you anyway?_

Rika sensed Renamon's apprehension at her question, and she suddenly regretted asking it.

_You know what? Never mind. I probably don't even want to know anyway._

_"Are you sure Rika?"_

Rika paused, but only for a second.

_Yeah, I'm sure. Just forget it._

_"Rika,"_ said Renamon. _"Are you all right?"_

Rika looked up at Takato once more, her face not showing any emotion at all.

_Never better,_ Rika thought to her partner, feeling for some reason as though she was lying.

* * *

Up in the tree branches above her red headed partner, Renamon looked empathetically at the girl.

* * *

Takato laughed as he placed a MetalTyrannomon card over his DarkTyrannomon. 

"DarkTyrannomon digivolves to _MetalTyrannomon_! Which makes you… _history_!"

"Aw man…" groaned Kazu as he gripped the sides of his head in frustration.

"Guess you'll have to take back what you said about his playing skills earlier," joked Kenta as he jabbed an elbow into his friend's side. Kazu just growled and looked at his goggle-bearing friend.

"Aah… you just got lucky for once. I still have a higher win/loss ratio compared to you, chumley."

Takato's eyes sparkled and he looked at Kazu challengingly.

"You want to put that to the test this time?"

Kazu had seen this before in Takato, back in his early Tamer days right before he had introduced his two friends to Guilmon for the first time. This usually came about when Takato was feeling a little high on himself, though he didn't often get that way. His experiences in the digital world, and his constant vigil against digimon in general have long since tempered back that particular emotion, but that didn't mean that it still wouldn't come out and play every now and then, especially when it came to Kazu and the Digimon card game. Sometimes it made for a better game when he was like that, especially since Takato _had_ gotten better at the game over these past months, despite Kazu's constantly deriding the boy for his earlier performances. Not like it mattered though. Kazu still bested Takato in the game, even with Guardromon constantly boasting about the cards in his hand. But Kazu had to admit, the matches were getting closer…

With a grin, Kazu picked up his deck and once again shuffled it and set it back down, drawing a new hand while Takato did likewise.

"Sure," said Kazu. "Why not?"

Henry and Kenta exchanged glances, and they sighed. Knowing these two, they would be at it for a while.

While Takato shuffled his deck, he took a moment to look around, smiling as he saw Jeri teaching a game to Suzie and Guilmon. Panning over he took notice of Rika, standing off to the side, as was her custom when usually in large groups, half fancying that he saw Renamon hiding up in the tree branches above her. Takato's smile widened and he was about to look back at the game when suddenly, as though drawn by a magnet, Takato's eyes were locked with Rika's and he froze, realizing that she was looking at him.

_Wha…?_

Takato felt as though he were in a trance for some reason, and he felt his body temperature rise several degrees. There was no doubt; Rika was definitely looking at _him_, and for some reason he found himself unable to tear his gaze away. So he just sat there, looking back with some red color spreading its way across his cheeks. He could have been like that for only a minute, or even years while somewhere in the back of his mind he heard a voice calling to him, practically screaming at him to look away before Rika took offense to his staring. Telling him to wake up. In fact, it sounded something like…

"Hey! Chumley! Snap out of it! Are we going to play or what?"

"Ah! Uh… hah? Wha…? Oh. Sorry."

Takato blushed lightly, and set his deck down, trying to ignore the odd looks that he was getting from Kazu, Kenta, and Henry as he drew his cards. Kazu took one look at his friend, raised an eyebrow and looked over at where Takato had been staring earlier and then back at Takato, this time with a mysterious grin on his face.

"You know, when Henry's sister asked you if you liked Rika, I thought that she was just mixed up because of the joke that I made earlier."

Takato's face reddened quite visibly.

"Wha…? W-what're you talking about?"

Kazu snickered.

"You were looking at Rika just now. C'mon. Admit it. She's the only person that was in that direction…"

Takato's face darkened even more.

"I… I w-was just… ahem… l-looking at the scenery…"

Kazu just burst out laughing, and was followed by some lighthearted snickering from Kenta as he put the pieces together.

"Yeah, I'll bet," said Kenta. "You may want to think of a better excuse _Takato_. And don't let Jeri hear that you were looking at Rika. She might start to get jealous."

"Ahhh… I'd be more worried about Rika," said Kazu. "If she caught him staring at her she'd probably mail his remains home in an envelope."

"Do you think that she would?" Asked Kenta fearfully.

Takato groaned as he hid his face in his hands. This was definitely going to mess up his game. He just knew it…

* * *

Henry watched the scene, unsure of what to make of it. It was sort of reminding him of that weird moment down in the tunnels when Rika had caught Takato looking at her, shortly after Terriermon had made his _Renamon and Guilmon sittin' in a tree_ remark. Thinking that his attitude then was the one best suited to this situation Henry thought the same thing that he did then, even though he didn't suit the action to the idea. 

_Just keep walkin'…

* * *

_

"So…" began Kazu conversationally as he laid down a Bearmon card. "Hear any good songs lately?"

For some reason, Takato felt his stomach clench.

* * *

_Stupid Gogglehead,_ thought Rika as she watched Takato go through several shades of red as Kazu and Kenta poked fun of him about something. Rika wasn't sure what it was, and right now she could care less. She was more concerned with fighting down the wave of heat that had enveloped her face when she had gotten into her staring contest with Gogglehead. Closing her eyes once more, Rika tried to put a halt to the direction that her mind was going and succeeded. Once she opened her eyes again she saw Jeri standing in front of her, with a warm smile on her face. Rika returned it. 

"Hey, Jeri."

"Hey," responded the brown haired girl as she walked up and stood next to Rika. "So how are things going?"

Rika just shrugged.

"Peachy," was all she intoned, using Jeri's favorite line when describing how she felt. Jeri smiled inwardly at its use.

Jeri looked at Rika's face, trying to analyze the girl's emotional weather, and taking note of the fact that she was currently looking at the card game that was currently going on. Rika had a thoughtful expression on her face.

"How come you aren't down there with the boys playing Digimon?" Asked Jeri, picking up the threads of conversation once more.

Rika shifted slightly against the trunk of the Sakura tree.

"I've just got a lot on my mind right now, and I wanted to get some things sorted out first."

Jeri looked again at Rika, her smile faltering just a little bit as she recalled some of the things that she had heard today, wondering just how much that this was affecting her. From what she had gathered from Renamon and the conversation that she had _eavesdropped_ on earlier, she felt that Rika had to still be rather confused. Jeri carefully studied Rika, noting her expression, which still carried that thoughtful look. As if she felt Jeri's gaze, Rika shifted once again and looked over at Jeri, frowning slightly.

"What?" Rika half asked, half demanded in a grouchy kind of way.

"I was just wondering what you were thinking about. Would you care to talk about it?"

Rika narrowed her eyes and looked away.

"No," she said flatly. Jeri sighed. Rika was retreating again. Whether it was because she didn't want to face whatever it was that she was going through, or because she didn't want to involve Jeri was something that the brunette wondered about. Well, it was more likely that she didn't want to involve Jeri. Rika, from what Jeri had seen, was rarely afraid of anything, though she at times showed discomfort when it came to anything emotional, brought on no doubt because of her normally independent and tomboyish personality, not really liking having to depend on anyone, and not feeling comfortable at all with anything that was feminine. Sometimes Jeri wondered how it was that the two of them had become such close friends despite the obvious differences between them.

Jeri looked over at their friends, some of who were currently laughing about something, at Takato's expense if the boy's face was any indication. Jeri wondered if she should try and confront Rika about her feelings, if she had any at all for Takato that went beyond friendship. For all she knew it might just be a mild crush on her part and Rika being Rika… well, she probably wouldn't know how to handle it. Or not want to handle it.

_Maybe I shouldn't force it,_ thought Jeri._ After all, Rika doesn't really react well when she feels as though she's being forced into something, that is, if half the stories that I've heard are true. But I really want to know…_

Jeri looked over at Rika once more.

"Well, if you ever want to talk about it, just remember that I'm here for you if you need me."

Rika looked over at Jeri, and then looked away.

"Thanks," she muttered. "I'll keep it in mind."

Jeri waved cutely at Rika and then strode off to watch the boys as they played their game.

Rika watched Jeri go, feeling a little bit bad that Jeri had basically offered her a listening ear, despite the fact that what she was feeling right now revolved around the boy that the former Tamer liked.

_She's a lot like Takato in that respect,_ thought Rika. _Always ready to lend a helping hand even if you make it clear that you don't want it. And that's why I can't tell her. Can't tell her about what I'm going through, if I'm going through anything that all._

Rika frowned as she tried to push those thoughts away once more. She was getting a little annoyed at those feelings and what they implied. She didn't like them, and it only made it worse that they were focused on one of her best friends. They just _couldn't_ be what she was thinking! They just couldn't!

Shaking her head, Rika pushed off from the Sakura tree, debating whether or not she should just go home now, as though by leaving she could forget about those silly feelings and move on with her life. They didn't matter, and especially not if they had the potential to hurt one of her friends.

But… there were her friends to think about. If she just up and left without a word they might get worried about her. Takato, Henry, and Jeri certainly would, even though they knew that she didn't like to be worried about. That and there was the fact that if she did leave, it would be like running away from her problems, and her pride demanded that she stay and face them, no matter what it cost her.

With a sigh, Rika wandered on over to the game, determined to stick it out as long as possible until this day was finally over.

* * *

A/N: Aaagh! More angst! More unchanging scenery! A lot of thinking going on in this chapter, and slowly, very slowly, Takato's thought process is being drawn into this, though in agonizingly small amounts, which I'm finding to be irritating. The only comfort that I can take from this is the knowledge that if I rush things, I can potentially screw up the story. (Sigh) Well, we'll see where this one goes for now. 'Till next time then. Later. 

-Crazyeight

8


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Song of the Setting Sun

Chapter: 11

The Wong's had packed up their picnic supplies over an hour ago, but so far the family showed no desire to leave the Sakura trees. Not yet anyway. That would come later in the afternoon, but for now the general consensus was to hang out and enjoy the day. The Tamers were certainly in agreement with this, and as such they spent their time as they saw fit, splintering off into various groups depending upon whatever interested them at the time. At present, Takato Matsuki wasn't with the other Tamers, having instead wandered off to a nearby drinking fountain to refresh himself (as well as to get away from Kazu's constant comments about _songs_. He was starting feel just a little bit disturbed by the focus that his visor wearing friend was putting on that subject). As he turned the handle on the drinking fountain, sending a stream of water arching upwards, Takato reflected on how his day had deviated from what he had originally planned. He had long ago resigned himself to the fact that his day with Jeri was anything but what he had hoped it would be, which wasn't so bad he guessed. After all, he got to see his friends, and it wasn't like he had asked Jeri out or anything. They were all having fun, and that was what counted right?

Of course, there was the fact that Kazu and Kenta knew that hanging out with Jeri, _alone_, was something that he had planned, and knowing them they weren't going to let him live down the fact that that wasn't at all what had happened. Of course, he'd easily be able to get through that aggravation. He had to deal with those two Tamers on a daily basis and was more or less used to the little barbs and stings that they constantly needled him with. Not that it stopped him from getting frustrated from it, but he at least knew that they couldn't go on like that forever, which was just about the only thing that helped him endure everything that his two friends put him through.

Leaning forward, Takato began to sip at the water, letting the cool liquid cascade over his throat as he gulped it down.

He didn't notice the shadow behind him until he was done getting his drink.

Takato wiped his arm across his mouth, drying it off before turning around, coming face to face with a certain yellow furred kitsune.

"AAHHH!!!"

Takato leapt back, startled, and banged his back into the drinking fountain that was behind him, the pain immediately shutting off his _fight or flight _instincts and returning him to some semblance of rational thought as he rubbed his back and groaned, taking stock of the situation.

"Owww… Renamon…"

The vulpine digimon just looked at the goggle-wearing Tamer. Though her face was expressionless, Takato was sure that she was slightly amused by his surprise and clumsiness. Nonetheless, she did try to rectify her ill-timed appearance.

"My apologies," said Renamon. "I did not mean to startle you."

"Ah, it's okay," said Takato as he tried to placate the vulpine digimon, massaging the muscles in his back, the pain rapidly disappearing. "It's nothing."

Takato looked at Rika's partner, curious as to why she was here. Not that he minded or anything, but it was rare that she ever decided to approach him about anything. Usually when she wanted to discuss something she went to Henry if she couldn't talk to her partner and, on the rare occasion, Impmon. Sometimes Takato thought that she considered him too immature or naïve to approach with a serious issue, but he had done much in the time that they've known each other to help her grow to respect him a little despite his naivety. Not that he minded or anything. Henry was, after all, the kind of person that anyone could talk to about whatever was bothering them.

So… um… what's up?" Takato enquired. "Uh… did you want to something?"

"You could say that," said Renamon, her rather piercing blue eyes meeting Takato's distinct red ones, causing the boy to tense up. Renamon had a way of seeming intimidating even when she wasn't trying to be. Takato reflected on the irony that Rika was partnered with such a digimon since even she could intimidate a person without even trying.

"Um… okay?"

Renamon looked at Takato for a moment before casting her eyes in the direction of where the other Tamers were.

"It's been almost a year since Rika and I first met you and Guilmon," the kitsune said. Takato cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow, wondering where she was going with this.

"Um… yeah. Pretty hard to believe that we became friends despite how we first met. I still remember how Guilmon flattened that fence that you kicked him into." Takato suddenly chuckled. "Man, who would have thought that you two would have become friends with us, let alone work with us after that first meeting?"

Renamon nodded.

"Who would have?"

There was a brief moment of silence, during which Takato began to feel a little bit uncomfortable.

"Um… Renamon? Why are you asking me about this?"

Renamon looked at Takato, her face expressionless.

"Do you remember the first thing that you said to us when we fought that day?"

Once more Takato tilted his head in confusion, wondering just what this was all about, and thinking back as well. Just what _did _he say to Rika that day? Something about the meaning of life…? Takato shook his head. It was so long ago, and that day had been one huge, emotional roller coaster ride for him, between Guilmon showing up at his school, to him ditching school to find a better hiding place for his partner, and then getting jumped by Renamon and Rika. Well, it was rather surprising to him since, well, he didn't really want to say it since Rika told him not to…

As if picking up his thoughts, Renamon nodded her head and said what was on his mind for him.

"You said that you saw Rika in a dream."

There was that tension again. Takato felt heat rise on his face and he took a quick look around, as if he expected Rika to pop up at any moment and start punching him or something along the lines of that.

"I don't think that we should be talking about this…" began Takato, but Renamon overrode him.

"What harm is there in talking about a dream?"

_Well, for one thing, Rika,_ thought Takato sarcastically.

"Well… it's just that… Rika said that she didn't want me to talk about… _that_. She didn't even want me to bring it up."

Renamon was unphased.

"Except you didn't bring it up. I did."

"Somehow I don't think that Rika would buy that excuse…"

Renamon chuckled inwardly. Sure, Rika would probably be mad, if she ever found out that is, but she certainly wouldn't throttle the boy. Especially since he was discussing it with her partner. Well, she might be mad at both of them, but the knowledge of the dream wasn't leaving their small circle, so hopefully that would appease her…

"Humor me," said Renamon.

Takato sighed.

"I don't know… I still don't really understand it myself. And shouldn't this be something that I should be talking about with Rika anyway?" _Like that would ever happen…_

"Yes. I think that it's something that you two should discuss. Someday. It is one of the few mysteries that has never been explained…"

"Kind of like that weird digital field that took Guilmon down into the tunnels, huh?"

Renamon just nodded.

"I'm curious. Did you have any dreams about the other Tamers?"

Takato shook his head.

"Are you sure?"

Takato laughed nervously.

"I'm pretty sure that I would remember any others if I did. The one that I had with you and Rika was pretty… _realistic_."

"What did you see?"

Takato once more looked uncomfortable.

"Uh… Renamon? Why is this important? I mean, nothing has come out of it so far so why the sudden interest?"

Renamon just looked at Takato impassively, her gaze never leaving his.

"As I said," said Renamon mysteriously. "It is one of the few mysteries that has never been explained."

Takato lowered his eyes, confusion sinking into his thoughts. With a mental sigh, Renamon turned away from the boy.

"I see that you have a lot to think about. Perhaps you can share your thoughts with me later."

Before Takato could say anything, Renamon phased out of view, leaving behind a very perplexed Tamer.

Takato sighed, feeling greatly confused and disturbed. He hadn't expected Renamon to ask him about that dream, especially since Rika did not take to well to his having told her about it. Thinking back on it now, Takato wondered why he had had it at all, and about Rika of all people!

_Maybe it was just to awaken me to my destiny or something like that. It's not like the universe has some ulterior motive beyond that, right?_

Shaking his head, Takato began his slow trek back to where his friends were located, wondering why Renamon would approach him about this.

* * *

Renamon reappeared on a Sakura tree branch, wondering if she did the right thing in talking about that dream with Takato. Normally she wouldn't have asked since it concerned Rika, but the fiery Tamer wasn't at all interested in bringing it up with the boy, and since Rika had made a passing mention about it earlier, and now Jeri becoming aware of the dream, Renamon's curiosity was roused as to the nature of it and whether or not Takato had had dreams about the other Tamers or if it had only been limited to just Rika. Well, now she knew and the kitsune wasn't very comforted by it.

_While we may never know why Takato had that dream,_ thought the vulpine digimon. _There is no doubt that for whatever reasons, it was important. To himself, and to all of us.

* * *

_

Rika lay with her stomach resting on the Wong's picnic blanket, one foot dangling in the air and her chin resting on her arms as she watched the others running back and forth with the Frisbee, chuckling lightly as she watched Kazu struggle with Guilmon for control of the green colored disk and failing (the red dinosaur had it gripped viselike in his jaws like a dog, and he refused to give it up). Kenta, Henry and Terriermon sweatdropped as they tried to figure out the best possible way to handle this situation while a bit further off, Jeri and MarineAngemon were currently giggling up a storm. Guardromon stood off on the sidelines, watching with a curious, analytical look in his eyes, as though he were studying the strange human behavior and trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for it. Of course, he didn't have a chance. The robotic digimon was about as bright as his partner, and as dense as Gogglehead…

Looking over to the side, Rika saw Takato approaching with a distant, troubled look on his face, as though he were thinking hard about something. Rika passed it off though as just another one of his weird little quirks. Takato had the strange habit of getting worried over even the simplest things so she really wasn't surprised by this. Still, she did feel the slightest twinge of worry, as she knew Takato to not get worried unless it was for a very good reason, no matter how simple the problem seemed. Rika frowned and tried to dismiss the feeling of worry, not liking it as it reminded her of the strange feelings that she kept having towards the goggle-wearing Tamer. She had been trying to ignore them lately, though as a result of her efforts she would feel frustrated at having to ignore them, and so it only made her more aware of those feelings. Maybe she should have taken Jeri up on joining the Frisbee game. It probably would have helped take her mind off things a lot more easily, but she just wasn't that into playing the game.

Takato plopped down next on the blanket next to her, and Rika cast a sidelong, questioning glance at the boy, seeing that same look of thoughtful concentration on his face. Whatever it was he was thinking about, it clearly kept him from paying attention to the outside world. He hadn't even taken the time to say hi as he usually did. Which suited her just fine. Right now she wanted some peace and quiet.

Taking another glance at the Tamers unofficial leader, Rika did wonder what it was that was on Takato's mind that would distract him so completely.

_He's probably worried about Jeri or something,_ thought Rika. _It's not like today went at all the way he had hoped it would._

Rika frowned at the thought, and decided that it wasn't a very probable one. Takato may have been disappointed when his plans went out the window, but he definitely wasn't shallow enough to keep carrying a torch over it for this long. He considered his friends to be an important aspect of his life. However important Jeri was to him, and there was no denying that she was very important to the boy, his own personal happiness was always secondary to that of his friends.

However, with a lack of anything else to go on, Rika didn't have much choice but to go with this idea. Unless that is, Takato was freaking out over losing a sock or something, as she had once accused him of back during the D-Reaper crisis. Unconsciously the memory brought a smile to the girl's face and she began humming softly under her breath the tune to the song that her father had taught her all those years ago.

After a few minutes, Rika realized that she was humming in stereo, and with a look of annoyance, she turned to look at Takato, who still looked as though he were concentrating on something. It was quite possible that he didn't even know what he was doing. This was only confirmed when Takato continued to hum the tune, only this time taking it up back at its beginning. With a mental sigh of irritation, Rika's raised foot came forward and nudged the boy a little roughly, not being in a very good position for delivering a kick. Not that she really would have anyway that is. Takato had yet to really annoy her enough to warrant her actually harming him.

"Ah!" Exclaimed Takato as Rika's foot lightly smacked him. Turning to look at her, the boy blinked in surprise. "Rika! Hey… wait! What was that for?"

Rika huffed, still feeling slightly annoyed at the goggle wearing Tamer.

"Why's it matter? You were spacing out there."

Takato raised an eyebrow.

"I was?"

Rika just rolled her eyes.

"You're hopeless Takato…"

Takato just sweatdropped and looked away, watching as the other Tamers continued the game of Frisbee. Rika glanced at Takato again.

"So what are you doing just sitting there? Aren't you going to join them?"

Takato shifted uncomfortably on the blanket.

"I've… got a lot on my mind right now."

Rika looked away, closing her eyes, looking pleasantly amused at the boys answer.

"Really? That's not like you."

Takato blinked again in confusion.

"Eh? Which part?"

Rika tried to restrain a laugh, but failed a little and it came out instead as a girlish giggle.

"Tough call. I mean, it's not like you actually _think_…"

"Hey!"

"Take a chill pill Gogglehead," said Rika as she sat up, her eyes narrowing as she looked at their friends. "I didn't mean it."

Rika stood up and brushed off her jeans before putting her hand out to Takato.

"C'mon. Whatever it is that you're thinking about can't possibly be important enough for you to miss out on hanging out with the others when they're having fun. We can't let Kazu keep hogging that stupid Frisbee forever, right?"

Takato tilted his head to the side, looking at Rika's hand questioningly.

"You're offering me a hand _and_ saying that you're going to play Frisbee with us? That's not like you."

Rika glowered.

"Just shut up and get up on your feet already. I don't feel like holding my hand out to you forever you know."

Takato chuckled a little at that and clasped Rika's hand, allowing the fiery Tamer to pull him to his feet, and then began to protest as the girl began to pull him towards the group, letting go of him with a laugh after only a few steps, the forced forward momentum making Takato tumble back to the ground, landing on his hands and knees.

"C'mon Gogglehead. Can't have you falling down too much on the job," said Rika with a grin and flashing eyes. Takato grinned back, though it was a little bit odd seeing Rika act this way, as she didn't do so often. Oh well, why argue with a good thing?

_Girls are so weird…_ thought Takato as he regained his footing and ran towards the group, calling for the Frisbee to be tossed to him while Rika just shook her head. The sound of laughter filled the air as the game continued with its two newest arrivals.

* * *

7 


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Song of the Setting Sun

Chapter: 12

"TAKATO! GET BACK HERE WITH THAT FRISBEE!" Shouted Rika in a voice that spoke of barely contained irritation as she chased after the goggle-wearing boy. Takato gave a fearful yelp and sped up his pace, trying to gain some distance between himself and the red haired girl that pursued him while behind them the others were shouting encouragements and warnings to him. Takato risked a quick look over his shoulder and at the sight of dangerously flashing violet eyes pursuing closely behind he once more found a reason to speed up, all his months of running through the city to get to digital fields to combat rogue digimon finally paying off as he ran for his life from perhaps the most dangerous being this side of two worlds. Rika Nonaka.

The reason for her pursuing him was simple, as she had made quite clear just a second ago, revolving around the green disk that he held tightly in one hand. Sometime after he and Rika had joined the game of Frisbee that Henry and the others had going, Rika had picked up a highly aggressive streak, so much so that the game had dissolved first into a game of keep away and finally turning into something vaguely resembling football as she threw herself into it with an abandon that was so unlike the normally cool, reserved girl that they all knew. Most of the Tamers, with the exceptions of Jeri and Henry, had some degree of dirt and grass stains on their clothes or exposed skin, signs of the struggle that they had had to endure since the headstrong Tamer had joined.

And now Takato was the latest target. Had he the time (and distance) to stop he would have gotten rid of the item that had now made him a target, probably aiming it towards Henry or Kazu if either of them were available. As it stood though (or rather, ran) Takato did not have that kind of luxury, for any deviation of movement that required him to toss away the Frisbee, even if he just threw it without any degree of accuracy and kept running, Rika would be on him in seconds.

Of course, tossing another look over his shoulder, he realized that seconds were, at best, really all he had left.

Takato grunted as he felt the girl impact him from behind, nearly dragging him down, but on one of those rare occasions, Takato kept his feet and kept the Frisbee close to his body as he struggled to break free from Rika's grasp. He wasn't succeeding very well, as Rika's hands had snaked around and grabbed hold of the green colored disk and pulled on it, almost wrenching it from the boys grasp, but Takato held fast and pulled back, and soon enough the two of them had started a tug-of-war. Trying to get out of Rika's grip, Takato's eyes slid over Rika's face, almost letting go as he saw the look of uninhibited joy on the girl. A wide smile curving upwards, her eyes burning with that same fire that he normally saw when she went into battle… but before he could really take note of it, Rika gave a hard tug on the Frisbee, causing Takato to wake up from his daze and tug back. Feeling a surge of energy at Rika's competitiveness, Takato finally pulled the Frisbee away and sent it flying just as Rika lunged forward, bringing them both to the ground. The Frisbee soared through the air towards Kazu, and he spread out his hands to catch the flying projectile.

"I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" Called the boy loudly as the Frisbee neared him.

And then the form of Renamon appeared in mid air and caught the Frisbee with one gloved hand, and somersaulted gracefully to the ground with something that could almost be a smile gracing her features. Kazu sulked.

"Aw man… That's not fair! I thought that you weren't a part of this game… or that you didn't join in games in general."

"Let that be a lesson to ya then," said Rika as she stood up, hauling Takato to his feet as she did so, the boy chuckling rather dazedly. "Expect the unexpected dim bulb."

Kazu just groaned and scratched the side of his head while behind him, Jeri, Henry, and Kenta laughed.

"Man Rika," said Kenta with a note of admiration in his voice. "You've been on fire since you joined in. How come you didn't when we asked earlier?"

Rika just gave a soft smile, eyes sparkling a little as she began to relax. Kazu took note of this rare and bizarre phenomenon with a cocked eyebrow and a sarcastic comment.

"This is just too weird. I'm not used to Rika acting like this. It's kind of making me nervous. All right, who are you and what have you done with the real Rika?"

"Kazu!" Chastised Jeri from behind the visor wearing boy as Rika glowered at the boy. "You'll ruin the moment!"

"What moment?" Asked Kazu. "All I see is Rika… oh."

Rika looked at Kazu with a raised eyebrow, wondering what the heck they were talking about, when Jeri giggled and pointed at Rika's hand, which was still wrapped firmly around Takato's wrist from when she pulled him to his feet. With a frown and a light blush, Rika let go of Takato's wrist and folded her arms across her chest, glaring at the other Tamers, daring them to say something. Kazu, to his credit, managed to repress a snicker.

"I told ya," said Terriermon as he hopped up onto Henry's shoulder and giggled. "Lady killer."

"Terriermon…" said Henry with a chuckle, once more rapping his partner on the head with his knuckles. Rika and Takato gave the pair a weird look, wondering what they were talking about, and once more there was a round of laughter from the other Tamers, which had the effect of deepening Rika's blush while Takato just looked around, confused, wondering if he had completely missed the joke all-together before deciding on giving a nervous laugh, shutting up only when Rika glared at him, setting off a red discoloration on his face and he looked away, humming quietly to himself.

Jeri continued to giggle at this strange turn of events. No doubt tomorrow, things would calm down and Rika would return to being her usual self, but Jeri was glad that today at least she was acting a lot more childish, letting go of her inhibitions for this short amount of time. Especially after she had spent the majority of the day acting either a little out of sorts or irritated over something. Jeri had an idea as to what had been bothering her since her little _eavesdropping _on Rika and Renamon's conversation, so it was good to see the normally grouchy Tamer actually doing something to blow off some steam. Jeri did wonder as to what had led to the quick change. She had seen her talking to Takato earlier before the two of them joined in on the game, but they hadn't talked for very long. Rika had just gotten up as though she had reached a decision and got Takato to his feet as well. While she had no idea as to what had happened between them in the short amount of time that they had been together on the Wong's picnic blanket, but it was clear that whatever it was, Rika was now a lot happier than she had been throughout the course of the day.

Jeri wondered if Takato's just being there had something to do with it.

"HENRY! JAARIN!" Called out Janyu, interrupting Jeri from her thoughts. "SORRY TO INTERRUPT YOU, BUT YOUR MOTHER AND I ARE GOING TO TAKE YOUR SISTER HOME! ARE YOU GOING TO STICK AROUND?!"

Henry looked a little bit startled while next to him, his sister Jaarin called out, asking for the time. Janyu promptly announced that it was quarter of four. As one, the children sweatdropped.

"Man," said Takato. "We've been hanging out here _that_ long? That's… uh…"

"Eight hours, Gogglehead," said Rika with a small smile.

"Time sure flies when you're having fun," said Terriermon with a smirk and a suggestive wink. "Like time will for Takatomon I'm sure afterwards…"

"More like the way certain rabbits will if they keep making smart remarks," growled Rika. Terriermon laughed.

"Now that's just plain mean," said Terriermon. "Why would you want to do that to Lopmon?"

"Just because you're supposed to be a dog doesn't mean much, especially with those long ears of yours."

Terriermon just waved the girl off.

"Momentai, Rika. Mo-men-tai."

"I'll momentai you when you've been buried six feet under…"

"Ah…" began Henry with a nervous smile. "With that in mind, it _is_ starting to get late."

"Spoilsport," said Jaarin as she elbowed her brother, but apparently she was in complete agreement because she set off in the direction of her family, with Henry pausing long enough to get the family's Frisbee from Renamon and bid the others goodbye before leaving. As they marched away, Terriermon and Lopmon raised their ears in farewell, and the other children and digimon returned them.

Kazu sniffed and looked at his metallic partner.

"Yeah, Guardromon and I should probably consider heading back home also. Kenta too."

The bespectacled boy raised an eyebrow as MarineAngemon floated nearby, doing aerial somersaults and giggling.

"Huh? You're going home early? Why? And how come you're dragging me into it?"

Kazu just grabbed Kenta by the arm and began to drag him away from the others.

"Do I really have to spell it out to you chumley? What did we talk about this morning?"

"We talked about a lot of things this morning," replied Kenta. Kazu just groaned.

Takato, Rika, and Jeri just watched the two boys walk away, continuing their back and forth conversation, its noise diminishing as they got further away.

"Finally," muttered Rika as she breathed a sigh of relief.

Takato looked down as he felt Guilmon tugging at his pant leg.

"What's up boy?"

"I'd like to head down to the bakery now and get something to eat."

"Oh. Okay boy. Just give me a second to…"

Guilmon silenced his Tamer with a calm shake of his head.

"I can get there fine on my own, Takato," said the red dinosaur. "You have more important things to do right now."

"I do?" Asked Takato as he looked at his partner with a confused expression.

"Well, Kenta and Kazu say that you do anyway. I'm not really sure what they meant though, but they sounded like they knew what they were talking about. Might have had to do with that talk from this morning…"

Takato's face suddenly turned red as he swore he could feel two sets of female eyes on him. With a nervous laugh Takato looked at his partner.

"Ah… ahem! Uh… sure. No problem Guilmon. I… uh… I'll be sure to bring you some more bread later, okay?"

"That's okay," said Guilmon. "Kenta and Kazu owe me some bread anyway! Whee! Guilmon Bread!"

Takato raised an eyebrow as the red saurian turned and took off.

"Say wha…?"

But Guilmon was already too far away to hear Takato's question. Scratching his head in confusion, Takato turned back to Rika and Jeri and gave a nervous cough.

"I guess that it's just us again…"

But Jeri shook her head with a sad smile on her face.

"Sorry Takato. But I should probably be getting going also. My father doesn't like it when I stay out too late now."

"Oh." Takato's face fell for a second, but brightened again as he thought of an idea. "Um… then… uh… can I walk you home?"

Jeri smiled.

"Sure. Do you want to come too Rika?"

The red haired girl shook her head.

"If it's all the same to you, I'd like to stay here for a little while longer. I think I've babysat you two enough for one day."

Jeri smiled at Rika, seeing the playful grin on the other girls face and nodded, understanding her reasons before telling her goodbye.

"Bye Rika," said Takato as he gave her a wave before following after Jeri. Rika just smiled at the boy before setting herself down on the ground.

* * *

Rika breathed a contented sigh as she enjoyed the feeling of relaxation that flooded her body after the intense game of Frisbee that she had just been through. It was rare that she let herself go that much, as it wasn't her usual style but for once she just didn't care about the fact that she had basically sunk down to the level of the others. Pretty strange that doing so would make her feel so much more relaxed, but time would change that soon enough. Well, at least she could go to bed happy, and no longer have to think about all the things that had bothered her today. It was almost as if… just by involving herself the way she did in the Frisbee game today had _cleansed_ her in some way that she couldn't identify. She still felt those annoying feelings from earlier, but it was as if they didn't matter as much. Looking out towards the horizon, Rika felt content to just sit here for a moment before she too decided to head home. Renamon materialized next to her, not saying a word, but simply letting the silence speak for itself.

* * *

Takato and Jeri walked in silence. Takato had the sensation that there were butterflies fluttering about in his stomach but dismissed it as just nerves. Here he was, alone with Jeri once more, like things had started out back when he had first asked her to go with him to see the Cherry Blossoms. Okay, so things hadn't turned out the way that he had planned, but that wasn't important right now. They had had fun today! All of them did, including Rika! It was certainly weird seeing her act that way, but perhaps that was just a testament to the level that she was enjoying the game. Takato wondered if she regretted sticking around now when Jeri had asked her too, despite her saying that she disliked watching the Cherry Blossoms. Well, it certainly didn't look like she regretted staying. Not with the smile that she had on during the game and even afterwards. Without really noticing, Takato found himself thinking about how nice Rika looked when she smiled, and silently wished that she would do so more often. 

Jeri was likewise having similar thoughts, but with more of an eye on the things that she had learned today. Some of the things that she had discovered still confused her, such as the dream that Takato was reported as to having about Rika, and of course there was Rika and her unspoken feelings for the boy, even if she didn't, or wouldn't, realize them for what they were, if she even had them that is. She did feel a little bad still for asking Rika to join her and Takato in watching the Cherry Blossoms when Takato had once asked the girl that on her birthday, but that couldn't be helped. She just hadn't known beforehand, but the affect that it had on Rika bothered her nonetheless. Rika was one of her closest friends, and she didn't like seeing a friend hurt.

Through it all, Jeri wondered many things. About what Rika really felt towards Takato; what Takato felt about Rika, and what she herself felt towards him as well. She didn't doubt that Takato liked her, and the feeling was mutual…

But would it last?

Jeri had heard that first crushes, especially at so young an age as she and Takato were, generally don't last, and of course there were those who would say otherwise. Jeri's outlook was much more mature. She wasn't going to turn away from Takato because of some fear that they might end up not liking each other, or that someone else would come between them later on. Jeri had much more faith than that, especially in Takato, because he had such a big heart. They were young and life could take them in any direction, but Takato wouldn't lose his love for her, whether it was as a friend or as something more. Would she? And what if what she had thought about earlier, about Takato's dream having some kind of meaning concerning destiny? Well… time would tell on that one.

For now, perhaps it was best to leave things as they were, and let things develop naturally as they went. It's not like they were in any particular hurry to get anywhere in life, and like she thought earlier, things could change over time. Who knew for certain what would happen? Well, certainly not her or any of the others. Not even the digimon Sovereigns. Jeri knew one thing for certain though, she still needed to think about the days events, and about her own feelings before she went anywhere and did anything with them.

Jeri stopped in the park's path, and Takato stopped next to her, raising an eyebrow.

"Takato?" She asked tentatively. "Thank you for the wonderful time today."

Takato gave a goofy grin and blushed.

"Heh, heh. Sure Jeri. You're welcome."

"I know that you wanted to walk me home," continued Jeri, watching as Takato's face began to look concerned. "…But I would like to go the rest of the way on my own."

Takato's face broke a little at that.

"I… I don't understand. Did I do something wrong, Jeri?"

Jeri shook her head, and offered a comforting smile at the boy.

"No. No you didn't Takato, and I'm sorry for making you think so. It's just… I have some thinking to do right now, and I'd like to be alone for that. I'm sorry, Takato."

Takato nodded numbly. He felt his heart crack a little at this, but he could understand her position. Well, to an extent. He didn't know what she had on her mind, and he'd like to be there for her and help her through it, but this feeling was tempered back for his respect for Jeri's feelings. If she wanted to do this alone, then he should at least respect her decision.

And he did.

"Everything's all right though, right?" Takato asked with a shaky smile on his face. He had to at least know that everything was all right between them. Jeri smiled once more and took his hand into her own and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"Sure. Don't worry Takato. Everything's fine. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Takato's smile became a little firmer, more confident.

"Sure," he said quietly, and Jeri gave his hand one last squeeze before she let go, and set off on her own. Takato watched her go for a moment, a forlorn expression on his face, but he still held hope that everything was going to be fine. Jeri had told him so, so why should he believe otherwise, right?

With that question hanging in the air, Takato turned and headed off in the direction of his home, a sense of confusion fogging up his mind.

* * *

Rika walked through the park, hands dug into her pockets, her eyes relaxed and a small smile on her face. She felt a strange sense of liberation as she breathed in the air of the park, and she rejoiced in it. It wasn't often that she felt this kind of serenity, and she was going to hold onto it for as long as possible. 

Takato's sudden appearance pretty much put an end to that quickly.

Rika didn't lose the feeling over Takato's presence, though she certainly found it a strange curiosity since he was supposed to be walking Jeri home. It was the look on his face, that look of confusion… and was that sadness as well?…that caught her attention.

_Something's happened_, thought Rika as she casually walked up to Takato and gave him a questioning look.

"Hey Gogglehead," said Rika. "Why the face?"

Takato looked up at Rika and blinked.

"Huh? Oh… hi Rika."

Rika resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and sighed.

"All right. What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Said Takato quickly before taking a deep breath, as if he had to calm himself. "It's… nothing."

Rika didn't believe him.

"Right. Where's Jeri? Weren't you walking her home or something?"

Takato's face became even more downcast.

"She… uh… she said that she wanted to do some thinking. Alone, so…" Takato just trailed off, not wanting to continue. Rika raised an eyebrow.

"I see. Is everything all right between you two? I thought that you two were really hitting it off today."

Takato rubbed the back of his head, wondering why Rika was talking to him about this. Usually she wasn't concerned about how he felt. Well, there was the rare occasion, like that time back in the digital world when she first biomerged with Renamon to become Sakuyamon, when she had asked him if he was all right, but it's not like that meant anything, right? Takato shook his head at the memory, realizing that he had forgotten about it in the mad rush of events that occurred afterwards with D-Reaper. It was a little bit odd that he should remember it now after so long, but that didn't answer his question as to why she was asking him about how he felt. Oh well, she was his friend after all, and she did show a lighter side to herself not too long ago so that might have something to do with it.

Takato shrugged.

"Jeri says that everything's fine, but… I don't know. I can't help but wonder what she might be thinking about that she doesn't want to share with me. That she would want to be alone for."

Takato sighed.

"It's a little confusing…"

Rika had to agree with Takato on that. It _did_ sound confusing. Maybe tomorrow would bring answers for him. Until then…

"So," began Rika. "You going home now?"

Takato nodded. "Yeah. There's not a whole lot for me to do right now so I might as well. I've still got to get Guilmon something to eat."

"I see," said Rika as she took a moment to think about this. Looking at Takato right now, Rika felt a little saddened at the look on his face. Putting a hand on his shoulder Rika spoke.

"Tell you what. Why don't I walk with you for a bit? You know, to keep you company. It's the least I can do for interrupting your date with Jeri."

Takato restrained the urge to fidget.

"Um… you don't have to you know…"

Rika's eyes narrowed, and Takato's shoulders sagged. He _really_ didn't want to get on Rika's bad side right now, and she _was_ being friendly…

"Okay. If you want to."

Rika nodded and set off in the direction of Takato's home. After a moment she realized that Takato hadn't yet moved from his spot. Rika halted and looked over her shoulder.

"Well? Are you coming? Or are you going to stand there all day?"

Takato gave a startled cry before falling into step beside her, and the two of them continued their journey, neither one of them saying anything.

* * *

After what felt like an eternity the two of them entered the area of a playground, and Takato called for a quick rest before they continued. Rika made an impatient noise but agreed and the two sat down on a park bench. Takato looked at the swing set, overcome by a feeling of nostalgia as he realized that this was the same playground that he had spotted Rika at yesterday on his way home. She had been singing… 

Something clicked in Takato's mind as he remembered something that Kazu had kept bugging him about. Something about _singing_.

"So that's what he meant," whispered Takato, and Rika gave him a strange look.

"What who meant?"

"Eh? Ah!" Takato's face went beat red. "Um… nothing. Nothing at all. Heh, heh." Takato sweatdropped and Rika just snorted.

"Stupid Gogglehead."

Takato breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the swings once more, wondering how Kazu had found out about yesterday, if that was what he had been talking about. And then he remembered something about what Guilmon had said about Kazu owing him Guilmon bread…

_Sheesh! Don't tell me he bribed my partner! Oh man… no wonder Kazu wouldn't shut up about that. I just hope that Kazu forgets about it before he says something about it with Rika around. That would be bad…_

But while his mind was on the subject, he unexpectedly posed a question to the red haired girl that sat next to him.

"Rika? What was that song that you were singing yesterday?"

Rika looked at Takato, a little bewildered at the boldness of his question. Takato was himself taken aback by it, but he held his ground, despite Rika's narrowed eyes. Well, only for a moment…

"Um… you don't have to tell me of course. I'm… uh… just curious… _ahem_…"

Rika was silent for a moment, studying Takato carefully, debating as to whether she should say anything. She didn't like talking about herself, and wasn't the type to easily get sentimental about anything, but at that moment, Takato's face, and question melted her heart just enough to show some pity, and mercy, on the boy.

Rika looked at the playground, focusing on the swing set that stood in it, the memory of yesterday playing through her mind, of Takato accidently eavesdropping on her singing (she still wondered if it was an accident as he had claimed, but she at the very least she gave him the benefit of the doubt). Rika remembered that she had been thinking a little about her mother, and of her own father whom she hadn't seen in years. Memories that had been given renewed life on the day of her birthday when she had been possessed by a Parasimon. The day that Takato had saved her…

"It was just something that my Dad taught me when I was a kid," said Rika, breaking the silence between them. Takato looked at Rika, eyes slightly wide. He hadn't expected Rika to open up to him.

"Your…?" Takato stopped, unsure of where to go now. He hadn't heard Rika talk about her father before, and he had never seen him at her house either. He didn't really know what that was about, but he had guessed that Rika's parents were divorced. She never spoke about it, and rarely talked about family. He didn't know how she would react to talking about it, and now he regretted even bringing it up. Rika continued anyway in spite of Takato's worries.

"Yeah. My Dad. I don't really think about him much, since he left when I was little, but… I do think about him sometimes. Occasionally I wonder what he's doing. What he thinks of me, if he remembers me at all…"

Takato looked at Rika's face, which had taken on a rather distant look, as though she were trapped in the world of her memories.

"Rika…" began Takato, but the fiery Tamer interrupted him.

"Look. How much longer are we going to sit here? I thought that you wanted to get home."

Takato gulped.

"W-well, I'm in no hurry. I mean, I would like to get home; it's just that… er… I kind of… um… _like_ being with you… uh… here… that is…"

Takato's voice drifted off as he felt some heat rise in his cheeks. He had to sound like the biggest idiot in the world right now. Trembling slightly, Takato looked away, his muscles tensing as he did so, not wanting to see what Rika's reaction would be but having a pretty good idea anyway. Takato felt _very_ awkward right now, and wished deeply that he didn't. Rika might get the wrong impression…

Rika narrowed her eyes at the boy, wondering just what was going through that head of his. She wasn't quite sure how to take that comment of his, though if the warm feeling that she was getting on her face was any indication she was a little embarrassed by it.

_Why does he keep doing that?_ Growled Rika mentally. _Isn't he supposed to like Jeri or something? What is wrong with him?_

Rika clenched her eyes shut, feeling the wave of heat as it cascaded over her body. Once it passed, Rika looked to the side and saw Takato trying, with great effort to avoid looking at her, his own face looking a bit red itself. In an attempt to break the tension, and to show Takato that she wasn't upset with him Rika reached out and draped an arm over his shoulder, eliciting another flush of redness and warmth on the boy's face. Rika gave his shoulder a slight squeeze for added emphasis.

Takato felt as though he had electricity running through his body, but couldn't explain why. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that there was a girl, a pretty girl at that, sitting next to him and sort of hugging him. From another person's vantage point they might even look like a couple, albeit a very strange couple…

_Stop it, Matsuki!_ Thought Takato fiercely._ You… you don't see Rika in that way, and I'm sure that she doesn't see you that way either! No need to worry, right?_

Oh, how Takato wished he had an answer to that question.

Takato was starting to feel a little bit flustered. All sorts of worries bubbled to the surface, mostly focusing on himself, Jeri, and Rika. He couldn't explain why he was feeling them, or why they had become so dominant in his mind right now, but they were threatening to overwhelm him. Threatening to stop him up in much the same way that he did when he got nervous around Jeri. He needed something that would break him out of it.

"I-I'm sorry," Takato stammered. Rika gave him a questioning look. "About yesterday, and about asking about your dad. I… I don't think that I should have done either of those things…"

"Takato," began Rika. "We already discussed the first part yesterday. You were just following a noise. As for my Dad…" Rika paused. "… Trust me. It's no big deal, at least not with my friends. You weren't trying to make me feel bad or anything and I doubt that you would try even if your life depended on it. If it makes you feel any better though, I'll accept your apology, just so long as you don't ask me to go see the Cherry Blossoms as a cover for one."

Takato blinked, wondering what she meant by that before finally remembering that he had asked her that on her birthday, mostly because he had ruined her birthday surprise and wanted to make it up to her.

"Oh. Right. Sorry about that…"

"Takato? You better stop saying _you're sorry_ or else I'll be the one who apologizes for hitting you."

Takato laughed nervously.

"Sorry…"

"Gogglehead…" Rika growled.

Takato opened his mouth at first to apologize again, and then realized that was what was annoying Rika at this moment and then promptly shut his mouth with an audible click. Rika chuckled and lightly rapped her knuckles on his head.

"Gotcha."

"Hey!"

They were awfully close now, almost face to face, both of them looking into each other's eyes. Rika had a small smile on, her amethyst eyes sparkling as they searched his own crimson ones for… what exactly? Takato didn't know, but it almost looked like there was some hidden message in them. Once more Takato felt heat rise in his face and he looked away nervously. After another moment Rika did likewise, her expression becoming thoughtful.

"Um… Rika?" Asked Takato tentatively.

"What is it?"

Takato swallowed nervously. He didn't really know what he was going to say, what he had even wanted to ask, but before he knew it, he got his answer.

"Would you… would you sing that song for me?"

Rika gave him a questioning stare, wondering if she had heard him right. After deciding that she had she wondered if she should. She hadn't sung for anyone. Not since her father at any rate and normally she wouldn't sing for anybody. She hadn't at her birthday because of her experience with the Parasimon. That, and it was because Kazu had been the one who had asked.

Looking at Takato now though, she couldn't see a reason why she shouldn't. They were alone after all. With the exception of themselves and Renamon, the playground was remarkably devoid of human life. Besides, Takato probably needed something to take his mind off his worries. The way he was acting right now she was afraid that he'd have a heart attack before he got home.

With a smile, Rika squeezed his shoulder once more.

"Sure, Takato," said Rika softly, almost caringly, and before Takato could say anything Rika began to sing. Slowly, softly, almost as if she were giving voice to the Sakura trees that were blossoming, as if just with her voice alone Takato could see their branches swaying gently in the wind. The world disappeared for Takato, and all that he knew became just Rika's voice.

_You promised the sunset we'd always, always be together_

_I want to see you now, so please tell me how you feel_

_You came into my lonely heart so suddenly_

_You gently wrapped up the place that hurt_

_I've never felt this relaxed_

_I want to put that warmth in my pocket so I can walk around with it…_

_You promised the sunset we'd always, always be together_

_When I'm sad I watch the growing orange glow_

_The sunset whispers to me that it would surely, surely be all right_

_I want to see you now, so please tell me how you feel_

_I want to do my best everyday_

_To greet you with that smile you love so much…_

_You promised the sunset we'd always, always be together_

_Though I feel like giving up, I embrace the beautiful orange glow_

_The sunset taught me that it would surely, surely be all right_

_If I just believe, my feelings will get through_

_You promised the sunset we'd always, always be together_

_Though far away, we feel the same orange glow_

_It will surely, surely be all right, because the sunset connects us_

_Don't cry, our love lights up our hearts_

_Our love lights up our hearts…_

Rika voice slowly tapered off as she came to the end of her song, and came to a quiet stop altogether as the last word came out of her mouth. Takato's view of the world came back, feeling rather stunned at what he had heard. After a moment, one that seemed to take forever, Takato smiled softly at the girl. Rika looked over at him and smiled back.

"Thanks Rika," said Takato quietly. Rika nodded, still smiling. They stayed like that for a moment longer before Rika detached her arm from Takato's shoulder with a sigh and getting up from the bench.

"Come on, Gogglehead," said Rika. "We'd better get you home. I'm sure Dino-boy's just dying for you to get back."

Takato nodded and joined Rika. Together the two of them continued their journey through the park.

* * *

Takato and Rika halted outside of the Matsuki bakery, at the side entrance. They both stopped at the door and looked at each other, Takato a little nervously, with Rika looking as though she were thinking about something. 

"Um… well… so…" began Takato. "Um… thanks Rika, for being there and for… uh… hanging out with us at the Sakura trees. It was… fun."

Rika nodded, a small smile once more appearing on her face.

"Yeah it was. It always is though isn't it? Well, with the exception of when Kazu's around…"

Takato laughed, and then the door opened, revealing Takato's father, Takahiro Matsuki, carrying a currently empty crate. He looked back and forth between the two children, noting with some amusement that both of them seemed to be blushing at his intrusion. Takahiro grinned at them.

"Hey, Takato. Glad to see that you're home. You're mother would like for you to lend a hand in the kitchen as soon as your able too."

Takato bobbed his head up and down enthusiastically.

"Sure thing, Dad! I'll… ah… get right to that."

Takato paused to take one last look at Rika before they parted. Takahiro noticed.

"Incidently," the older male began, his grin widening. "When Guilmon came in saying that you were going to be late because you were walking a girl home, I wasn't expecting it to be your friend Rika. And aren't you supposed to walk her home and not the other way around?"

Takato's face instantly became bright red and he chuckled to cover it.

"Um… well… it's not like that… I mean it is… I mean… ah… she… I…_ahem_… er… that is…"

Rika just crossed her arms and gave the boy a glare before turning to Takahiro with an amused glint in her eyes, though she too was blushing. Lightly though.

"I only met up with him a little while after he was with Jeri," said Rika and then said, without missing a beat, "Besides. If Gogglehead here ever tried to walk _me_ home, I'd send him back home with a black eye."

Takato cringed, but put up a humorous smile, hoping that, at least she was joking about that. It was so hard to tell with her…

"I see," said Takahiro with a knowing smile still plastered on his face. "Well, don't let me keep you two." And with that, Takahiro set the crate he had been carrying down on top of a stack of them before heading back inside.

"Don't take too long saying goodbye though," said Takahiro.

Rika turned to Takato with a bemused expression on her face. Once more, Takato blushed lightly.

"Heh, heh. Sorry about that. Parents."

"Yeah. I've had my fill of them."

The two shared a light laugh together, and it was soon followed by an awkward silence.

"So," said Rika slowly, her eyes swiveling up to meet Takato's. "See you tomorrow?"

Takato smiled.

"Sure."

Rika smiled and turned, giving him a casual wave before walking off.

"Good to know. Until then, Gogglehead. Later."

Rika headed off, turning the corner leading out of the alley that the Bakery's side door faced, and began her journey home. Takato stood there waving for a moment before heading inside, feeling truly comforted and relaxed for the first time in hours...

"TAKATO! YAAAY!"

There was a crash of something unidentifiable hitting the floor in the kitchen, and the next thing the boy knew he was the recipient of one very heavy dinosaur leaping at him.

"AHHH! GUIL…!"

* * *

Mei Matsuki shook her head with a rueful smile on her face as she heard the distinct cry of her only son following the joyful glee of his digital creation. Yup, just another day in the Matsuki household.

* * *

Rika walked slowly on her way home, wondering at the strange feeling that filled her heart. It felt a little bit like how she felt after the Frisbee game, but at the same time it was something else. At present though, she wasn't about to go analyzing it. Maybe it was nothing, but then again maybe it was something important. Maybe… just maybe she actually… 

Rika pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. Time would tell soon enough as to what it was she was feeling, if it ever came up again. For now, life went on, and all further worries and musings were for the next day.

With this in mind, Rika continued on her way home, shadowed by her friend and partner, Renamon as she followed from a safe, agreeable distance, away from any prying eyes. A small smile lit up the females face as for the first time in a long while, she felt relaxed and completely at peace with herself. As she walked down the streets and headed towards the park to find a path that would take her home, she began to hum the tune to her song as in front of her, the sun arched downwards towards the horizon.

_You promised the sunset we'd always, always be together…_

The sun dipped a little closer towards the buildings. A journey of life never meant to end…

* * *

A/N: Well, that's it. Took me the entire day (from Nine O'clock in the morning or so up 'till 4:30 in the afternoon) but I'm done. I wanted to end this story on a sentiment moment (a tribute to Pandemonium Theory's review of Chapter 2 from when I first started this fic ;) ), and while nothing's been really resolved, things have been set up where they could go either way for the people involved in this fic, though with a greater emphasis on my personal favorite pairing, Rukato. I would also like to dedicate this fic to PTT, the one and only self-proclaimed, 100 percent, Jurato supporter to read this fic. You have my respect, for being one of those few who read a story over their preferred coupling. I have tried to treat all the characters involved with as much respect as possible in keeping with the show, and I hope that I at least did a good job with that (though it is admittedly hard getting characterization down right). 

I'd also like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed so far.

**Kuroy, Pandemonium Theory, Notorious P.A.T., Black, ZeroXGundam, Keyo-Red Angel of Hope **(always good to hear from you dude :P)**, Cony, Ruki44, TrialAndError1192812, Shadowzero789, Red Eye, Alforce Zero, Renaki **and **dbzgtfan2004.**

This fic was something of a challenge for me, as I had made no plans as to what I was going to do with it. By and large, I think that it was much more successful than my first attempt at that sort of thing, though I did feel that I nearly dropped the ball a couple times. While Rika and Takato didn't _officially_ get together, that wasn't really what I was aiming towards. I was doing this more as an experiment with three specific characters and wrote to see where it would go. Besides, this was, as I realized last chapter, the type of fic that wouldn't, or couldn't, have an end to it that solidly grounded the feelings of any of the characters. Not if I wanted to be realistic and true to the show at any rate, so I just left it off with some emotions in question and some ties strengthened. Jeri hasn't stopped liking Takato and vice-versa, and Rika hasn't yet fully realized what she feels for Takato. They are still kids after all, with a lot of growing up to do still.

Ahhhg… there I go again, rambling on endlessly. Anyway. Thanks again for reading and reviewing. Hope you enjoyed this fic. Later everyone. You are now leaving the world of…

-Crazyeight

* * *

16 


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